) is a former Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 professional road bicycle racer. He was the first to ride the Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez

L'Alpe d'Huez is a ski resort at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Alps, in the commune of Huez, in the Isère département in the Rhône-Alpes region.-Tour de France:L'Alpe d'Huez is one of the main mountains in the Tour de France...

 in the yellow jersey

Yellow jersey

The general classification in the Tour de France is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey .-History:...

 of leadership in the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

  and probably the only rider to have wept in distress at accidentally leading the race.

Professional career

Andrea Carrea was a professional from 1948 to 1958. For much of that time he rode as a domestique for Fausto Coppi

Fausto Coppi

Angelo Fausto Coppi, , was the dominant international cyclist of the years each side of the Second World War. His successes earned him the title Il Campionissimo, or champion of champions...

, of whom he was in awe. "He was a gregario par excellence," said the journalist Jean-Luc Gatellier, "the incarnation of personal disinterest... showing to perfection the notion of personal secrifice. He refused the slightest bit of personal glory."

Carrea had the face of a "wicked fairy and [a] Cyranesque nose," said the broadcaster and historian Jean-Paul Ollivier. Carrea was riding for Coppi in the Tour de France of 1952 when a group rode clear of the main field on the way to Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

. Carrea went with it to protect his leader's interests. He said:
Carrea had no idea until he crossed the line that he had become the race leader. When officials told him, he looked bewildered, then distressed, and burst into tears. He had to be dragged to the rostrum. He had oustaged Coppi and he dreaded the consequences. He wept as he received his jersey, looking constantly down the road for the main field that included his leader. Jean-Paul Ollivier said:

He did not understand and cried when he put on the livery. He thought the sky had fallen in. How would Fausto take it? When the champion arrived a few minutes later, Carrea went towards him in tears to offer his excuses. You must understand that I did not want this jersey, Fausto. I have no right to it. A poor man like me, the yellow jersey?

Coppi knew before he finished that Carrea had taken the jersey. He crossed the line while he was on the rostrum. He said: "I wondered how Carrea, so shy and so emotional, was going to take it. When I went to congratulate him on the track at Lausanne, he didn't know what face he ought to adopt." Carrea feared that Coppi's smile was for public consumption, that his wrath would come when they reached their hotel. Still not knowing what to say, he cried like a child, said Gatellier, and poured out excuses. Coppi, touched by his tears, comforted him. Carrea was pleased to lose the jersey the following day, a day he started by posing for photographers in his yellow jersey while symbolically polishing his leader's shoes. Coppi, who called Carrea "the good and wise Sandrino", said:

Ours is certainly a very hard profession with terrible demands and painful sacrifices. Carrea gave everything to me. In return I offered him only money. I know very well that if he was not my team-mate he would earn much less, and when all is said and done he is happy and many of his comrades envy him, but I personally think he deserves more than he has the right to: a little of intoxication of triumph. I had a way of settling the debt: it was to let him wear the jersey for a few days. Do you know what he said to the journalists the next evening after he had taken the jersey? That it was not right for a soldier to leave his captain.

Carrea wore the jersey for just one day. Jean Robic

Jean Robic

Jean Robic was a French road racing cyclist, who won the 1947 Tour de France. Robic was a professional cyclist from 1943 to 1961. His diminutive stature and appearance was encapsulated in the nickname the hobgoblin of the Brittany moor...

 attacked on Alpe d'Huez, which the Tour was riding for the first time, and Coppi countered and with it took the lead. But that still let Carrea, way down the field, to be the first in the Tour's history to ride the Alpe in the maillot jaune. Carrea also won a stage in the Tour de Romandie

Tour de Romandie

The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling....

. For years after retiring, he rode up Alpe d'Huez ahead of the Tour de France, recognised only rarely by spectators. It was, he said:

Carrea lives at Novi Ligure

Novi Ligure

Novi Ligure is a town and comune north of Genoa, in the Piedmont region of the province of Alessandria of northwest Italy.The town produces food, iron, steel, and textiles. It is an important junction for both road and railroad....

, close to Coppi's former home.

Palmarès

1952

Herve

Tour de France

1952 Tour de France

The 1952 Tour de France was the 39th Tour de France, taking place June 25 to July 19, 1952. It was composed of 23 stages over 4807 km, ridden at an average speed of 31.739 km/h. Newly introduced were the arrivals on mountain peaks....

:

Wearing yellow jersey

Yellow jersey

The general classification in the Tour de France is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey .-History:...

for one day

9th place overall classification

External links

• Official Tour de France results for Andrea Carrea