Swedish with Italian class.
Flashback on Friday File...
One of the handful of Swedes riding in the seventies and eighties was the classy Tommy Prim. No respect to Alf Segersall and Sven Ake Nilsson. Prim rode for iconic Italian Bianchi for his six seasons and came close to Italian gold - twice runner up in the Giro d'ltalia in 1981 and 1982. I'm often pulled closer to under dogs, in this case, especially for the Swede Tommy Prim. It must have been a tough 'fit' for a gifted non-Italian to ride on a Italian team, especially the powerful house Bianchi team. Yes, he won some very important victories; Tour of Romandie, Setmana Catalana, Tirreno Adriatico and a stage in Paris-Nice. He was a classy rider, but was his talents more supportive elsewhere?
1984 world's road race, Barcelona.
"You have to bear in mind the team philosophy; there were three leads - Baronchelli, Conti and me. For an Italian team it's better if an Italian wins the race and that's what we wanted - but they slipped in the last week: Contini was fourth and Baronchelli 10th and Battaglin won."
1982 A French opportunity...
"It was easy to stay in one place - but now I regret not taking up an offer I had from Mercier in 1982. The French and Belgian style of racing where they went from the gun suited me better than the Italian races was where it was 'piano' for 100 kilometres before they started to go. Sven Ake Nilsson wagon the team and rode the Tour and said it would have been a good team for me."
Stage 6, Vuelta Espana; in memory to Italy...
It's hot, I think it's time for a Red Dots Cycling cap...
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