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Video: Happy Days as back marker Giuseppe Fonzi rocks up at Giro time trial in black leather jacketGiuseppe Fonzi in black leather biker jacket.JPG

Video: Happy Days as back marker Giuseppe Fonzi rocks up at Giro time trial in black leather jacket

There's no maglia nera on offer for the last man in the race these days - but Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia rider has next best thing...
by Simon_MacMichael
Sun, May 28, 2017 14:18
2

If your surname is Fonzi, we imagine you learn early on to get used to a lifetime of Happy Days-themed punnage which you can either endure, or embrace.

It seems the Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia rider Giuseppe Fonzi falls very much into the latter camp.

The 25-year-old rocked up at today's closing time trial from Monza to Milan wearing a black leather biker jacket - evoking memories of Arthur "the Fonz" Fonzarelli played by Heny Winkler in the show, which ran from 1974 to 1984.

 

Fantastic! Giuseppe Fonzi first rider to start complete with Happy Days leather jacket!!! #giro100

A post shared by Anthony McCrossan (@antmccrossan) on

There's an added significance to Fonzi sporting black as he rolled down the ramp as the first rider out on the course by virtue of being last man in the overall standings.

From 1946 to 1951, the rider occupying that position was awarded the black jersey, or maglia nera, with the final winner being Giovanni Pinarello.

Fonzi , who took off the jacket before rolling down the ramp to start his ride today is assured of ending the 100th Giro d'Italia as back marker being 20 minutes behind the next rider on General Classification.

Giuseppe Fonzi
Giovanni Pinarello
Giro d'Italia 2017
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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2 comments

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peted76 | 7 years ago
1 like

Stuffed foxes wearing neckachiefs, old men dressed up as the devil, dumps by the side of the road, a hundred people running up the road wearing nothing but a pair of speedos, the odd manikini and someone dressed up as a character from a thirty year old American TV show, heeeeyyyyy..  

You really couldn't make this up, I bloody love cycling.

 

Avatar
captain_slog | 7 years ago
5 likes

OK, this is a slightly unlikely scenario but bear with me.

Suppose he spends so long out on the course that Nibali overtakes him but then immediately crashes. So Fonzi bunny-hops over him, at which point this Giro can truly be said to have jumped The Shark.

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