 Luigi Ganna, posing in a studio in Varese, Kingdom of Italy, 18 June 1914 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Luigi Ganna |
| Born | 1 December 1883 Induno Olona, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 2 October 1957 (aged 73) Varese, Italy |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Professional teams | |
| 1904 | Individual |
| 1905 | Rudge Whitwort |
| 1906 | Bianchi/Rudge Whitwort |
| 1907 | Turkheimer |
| 1908 | Alycon/Atala |
| 1909–1911 | Atala |
| 1912 | Atala/Ganna |
| 1913–1915 | Ganna |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Luigi Ganna (1 December 1883 – 2 October 1957) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He was the overall winner of the first Giro d'Italia, held in 1909, as well as the first Italian winner of the classic Milan–San Remo earlier that year. Further highlights in his career were his fifth place in the 1908 Tour de France and several podium places in Italian classic races.[1] In 1908, he set a new Italian hour record, which he held for six years.
He was born in Induno Olona, near Varese, in Lombardy. Before becoming a professional cyclist, he worked as a bricklayer, commuting up to 100 km to work by bike.[1]
In 1912 he started a bike brand named Ganna which was still around in 2012.[2][3] In 1913 he started the Ganna Cycling team where he rode for the final three years of his career.[4] His company sponsored the team until 1953 when they could no longer meet obligations and Nivea–Fuchs took over.[5]