L’Eroica · Tuscany · 1997
When old bicycles
found new roads
An old racing bicycle need not stand still to be history. It can still be ridden.
A small beginning
In 1997, just 92 cyclists lined up in the small Tuscan town of Gaiole in Chianti. They did something that, at the time, seemed almost backwards.
While the bicycle industry pursued aluminium, carbon fibre, clipless pedals and ever more advanced gearing, they brought out old steel bicycles, wool jerseys and toe clips and rode onto Tuscany’s dusty white gravel roads.
It was the beginning of L’Eroica.
Its founder, Giancarlo Brocci, wanted to recover something from the cycling he felt was disappearing: the effort, the fellowship and the landscape. The event also helped draw attention to preserving the old strade bianche — the white gravel roads that have since become a symbol of the area.
Bici Eroica
The old equipment is taken seriously
As a rule, a classic Bici Eroica must have been built no later than 1987. The year marks the period when toe clips and straps began to give way in earnest to modern clipless pedals.
- Year built
- No later than 1987
- Gear levers
- On the down tube
- Pedals
- Toe clips and straps
- Brake cables
- Visible above the handlebars
The collection is nearly ready for the start
GIOS 1975.
Rossin 1978.
Faggin 1987.
Several bicycles in the collection could almost be ridden straight to the start — with the 1987 Faggin right on the boundary.
From nostalgia to professional racing
The white roads return
In 2007, a professional race was held on the same Tuscan gravel roads under the name Monte Paschi Eroica. Alexandr Kolobnev won the first edition.
The race later changed its name and is now known as Strade Bianche. A small nostalgic event with 92 people on old racing bicycles thus helped bring the white gravel roads all the way back into modern professional cycling.
History is not only something you look at.
It is also something you ride.
Sources and image notes
The history and equipment rules have been checked against L’Eroica’s official history and current regulations. The connection to the professional race is also described by the UCI.
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