Giovanni Gerbi was an 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...

 road racing cyclist.

Biography

Giovanni Gerbi was nicknamed the "red devil", due to his red jersey and his "never-say-die" attitude.

In 1905, he won the first Giro di Lombardia. In 1911, he finished third in the Giro d'Italia

Giro d'Italia

The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

. He held the world "6 hours" record in 1913 with 208.161 km.

Between 1921 and 1925, he did not race. He began racing again in 1926. Failing to get a single result, he retired from racing.

In 1932, he took part in the Italian Championships for veterans, which he won. He repeated this performance in 1933.

He died in Asti in 1955.

In 1982, Paolo Conte

Paolo Conte

Paolo Conte is an Italian singer, pianist, composer, and lawyer notable for his grainy, resonant voice, his colourful and dreamy compositions and his wistful, sometimes melancholic...

dedicated a song on his album "Appunti di viaggio" to him: "Diavolo rosso dimentica la strada, vieni qui con noi a bere un'aranciata, contro luce tutto il tempo se ne va..."