MORE AND FASTER

38-year- old Pino Cerami finished the 1960 season second in the Perrier Super Prestige rankings. The series was a forerunner to the WorldTour we have today, though a good deal more inclusive.

The following season he won Paris- Brussels, back then as prestigious as Liège and much more important than, say, Flanders. On the Alsemberg, he attacked with three others as Van Looy, now the undisputed ringmaster of Belgian cycling, gave best. The rest was a carbon copy of the Flèche win, as he just rode away on the flat.

Two years later, at the ripe old age of 41, he was persuaded to ride the Tour de France. Though never much one for stage races, he conjured an astonishing performance on the road to Pau. With the GC bunch taking it easy in view of the first big Pyrenean stage, Pino joined a group of eight escapees. In theory he’d no chance, given that the great sprinter Darrigade was present. A kilometre from home, however, Pino jumped and the rest is history. Anything Chris Horner can do…