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Vittorio Adorni
	Adorni at the 1966 Giro d'Italia
Personal information
Full name	Vittorio Adorni
Born	14 November 1937; San Lazzaro di Parma, Kingdom of Italy
Died	24 December 2022 (aged 85); Parma, Italy
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional teams
1961	Vov
1962	Philco
1963	Cynar–Frejus
1964–1966	Salvarani
1967	Salamini–Luxor TV
1968	Faema
1969–1970	Scic
Major wins
	Grand Tours Giro d'Italia General classification (1965) 11 individual stages Stage races Tour de Romandie (1965, 1967) Tour of Belgium (1966) Tour de Suisse (1969) One-day races and Classics World Road Race Championship (1968) National Road Race Championship (1969)
Medal record
Representing Italy
Men's road bicycle racing
World Championships

Vittorio Adorni (14 November 1937 – 24 December 2022) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist.

Early life and amateur career

Adorni was born in San Lazzaro di Parma on 14 November 1937.^[1] He was a talented amateur and showed early talent at riding alone. He began racing in 1955^[2] and won the national amateur pursuit championship in 1959.^[3] Skill at riding fast alone won him the world professional road championship nine years later.

Adorni won the Trofeo de Gasperiin 1960 and turned professional during 1961^[1] after winning the Coppa San Geo.^[3]

Professional career

Adorni won two races in his first full year as a professional in 1961, riding for Philco and winning stages of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour of Sardinia.^[3] Adorni was more a domestique than a leader^[4] but he nevertheless won the 1965 Giro and the 1968 world road race championship. The championship was on the car race circuit at Imola, Italy. He broke clear with 93 km still to ride. He finished 10 minutes ahead of the field, helped in the peloton by his Italian teammates and also by Eddy Merckx, his normal teammate, who did not take up the chase.

The Cycling Hall of Fame, an American organisation, said:

"In 1968, Adorni taught Eddy Merckx of Belgium how to properly eat and rest during a Grand Tour. Merckx used this knowledge to not only win his first grand tour, the Giro d'Italia, but also the mountains and points jerseys as well, the first time ever this was done in a grand tour. Adorni finished second to Merckx in that race."^[5]

Retirement

Adorni rode as a professional from 1961^[1] to 1970. He retired to work in insurance^[2] and then became directeur sportif of the Salvarani team until 1973. He became president of the Italian riders' association and a commentator for the television company, RAI.^[6] In 2001 he joined the management committee of the governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale.^[4]^[6] The French magazine Vélo said: When he was nominated, no small number of observers asked 'Why him? Isn't he just Hein Verbruggen's puppet?'^[7]

The former Italian champion was chosen for his personality [était simplement victime de sa personnalité]. As a rider, he was respected by everyone. He was a gentleman. When Hein Verbruggen dug in, Adorni was a patient mediator, a natural negotiator. Thanks to him, the crisis with the organisers of the three grands tours didn't turn into a huge fiasco and he was able to maintain contacts.^[8] The world body was responsible for the Pro Tour; Adorni became its conscience.^[6]

Adorni worked in skiing, in public relations for the Winter Olympics at Innsbruck in 1976. He also worked in public relations at the summer Games in Montréal in 1976.^[2] From 1996 until 2004 he was President of Panathlon International.^[9] In 2000, he was a recipient of the Silver Olympic Order.^[10]

Adorni died in Parma on 24 December 2022, at the age of 85.^[11]

Major results

Sources:^[12]^[13]

Track

1958: 1st National Track Championship, Individual Pursuit

Road

1960

2nd Giornata della Bicicletta

1961

1st Coppa San Geo

3rd San Daniele Po

10th Giro della Romagna

10th Giro dell'Emilia

1962

1st Stage 4 Giro di Sardegna

2nd Milano–Torino

4th Giro dell'Emilia

5th Overall Giro d'Italia

1st Stage 15

5th Trofeo Baracchi

6th Grand Prix des Nations

7th Trofeo Matteotti

1963

1st Maggiora

1st Tour des Quatre-Cantons

2nd Overall Giro d'Italia

1st Stages 1 & 16

Held

after Stage 18

3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège

4th Coppa Agostoni

5th Milan–San Remo

7th Trofeo Baracchi

8th Overall Giro di Sardegna

1st Stages 5 & 6

10th Tre Valli Varesine

1964

1st

Overall Giro di Sardegna

2nd

Road race, UCI Road World Championships

2nd Trofeo Baracchi

2nd Antwerpen - Ougrée

3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège

3rd Corsa Coppi

4th Overall Giro d'Italia

1st Stages 1 & 14

7th Trofeo Laigueglia

7th Coppa Placci

10th Overall Tour de France

1965

1st

Overall Giro d'Italia

1st Stages 6, 13 & 19

1st

Overall Tour de Romandie

1st Stages 1b & 3b

1st Trofeo Città di Borgomanero

1st GP Lugano

2nd Milan–San Remo

2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège

5th Milano–Torino

6th Giro di Lombardia

7th Paris–Roubaix

8th Trofeo Laigueglia

8th Corsa Coppi

1966

1st

Overall Tour of Belgium

1st Stage 4

1st Stage 1 Giro di Sardegna

3rd Overall Paris–Nice

6th Giro di Toscana

6th Giro dell'Emilia

7th Overall Giro d'Italia

1st Stage 13

Held

after Stages 13 & 14

9th Tour of Flanders

1967

1st

Overall Tour de Romandie

1st Coppa Bernocchi

2nd Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria

2nd Giro di Campania

2nd GP Forli

3rd Milano–Torino

4th Overall Giro d'Italia

1st Stage 20

5th Overall Giro di Sardegna

5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

8th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico

10th Milano–Vignola

1968

1st

Road race UCI Road World Championships

1st Stage 1 Tirreno–Adriatico

2nd Overall Giro d'Italia

3rd GP Forli

5th Overall Vuelta a España

5th Trofeo Laigueglia

8th Overall À travers Lausanne

1969

1st

National Road Race Championship

1st

Overall Tour de Suisse

1st Stages 5 & 9

1st Stage 22 Giro d'Italia

1st Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria

1st GP Alghero

1st Stage 5b Tirreno–Adriatico

2nd Overall Tour de Romandie

1st Stages 2 & 3b

1970: 1st Stage 3 Tour de Romandie; 4th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico; 10th Overall Giro d'Italia

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970
Vuelta a España	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5	—	—
Giro d'Italia	28	5	2	4	1	7	4	2	12	10
Tour de France	—	DNF	—	10	DNF	—	—	—	—	—

Legend
—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish

Honour

Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (27 December 2012)^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c L'Eqquipe, Profile of Vittorio Adorni. Lequipe.fr. Retrieved on 24 July 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c Vittorio ADORNI. uci.ch
^ ^a ^b ^c Coureurs Italiens – Vittorio Adorni. velo-club.net
^ ^a ^b Hein Verbruggen reste président de l'UCI et intronise Vittorio Adorni au CCP. canoe.com. 11 October 2001
^ Vittorio Adorni . Cycling Hall of Fame.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c Vélo, France, February 2005
^ Verbruggen, the head of the UCI, was a controversial figure who introduced measures such as the Pro Tour, a season-long competition similar to Formula One in car-racing, but whose ideas and style brought opposition.
^ The Tours of France, Spain and Italy refused to be part of the Pro Tour.
^ [1] Archived 23 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Rubén Acosta". Olympedia. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
^ "Morto Vittorio Adorni: vinse il Giro nel 1965 e il Mondiale". Gazzetta. 24 December 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
^ "Vittorio Adorni". www.procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
^ "Vittorio Adorni". www.cyclingarchives.com. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
^ "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana". www.quirinale.it. Retrieved 24 October 2022.