Dino Zandegù remains one of the most beloved, vibrant, and unforgettable characters in the history of Italian cycling. It only takes a few of the countless stories from his career to get the picture – but beyond the charisma, the man had serious legs. We’re talking 6 stage wins at the Giro d’Italia and a victory at the 1967 Tour of Flanders.
The rider from Padua truly burst onto the scene at the 1966 Giro d’Italia, where he took his maiden stage win in the Corsa Rosa during Stage 10: a 221 km haul from Campobasso to Giulianova. He outsprinted Marino Basso and Vito Taccone that day to seal the deal. But the headlines weren’t just about Zandegù – far from it. What stole the spotlight in the press was Jacques Anquetil’s crash, a full 100 km from the finish. The real controversy? The Italian riders decided not to attack. In those days, fair play had a different code, and the peloton let Anquetil, one of the race favorites, coast his way back into the peloton without much resistance.
Zandegù, though, had other things on his mind. After all those near-misses and podiums, he’d finally nailed his first Giro stage. A reporter from Corriere della Sera dropped by the Zandegù’s team’s hotel outside Giulianova and gave us this gem of a scene: “The Bianchi riders, over the moon with happiness, managed to find an old guitar, and Dino Zandegù, the day’s winner, starts performing. He plays, he sings… At one point, he’s called to the phone – from Milan. He leaves the phone booth door open. Everyone hears him say: ‘The victory flowers are for you, I’m sending them.’ He’s talking to his girlfriend, who’s from Milan. When the call ends, he picks up the guitar and strums a love song. His teammates chime in as a chorus. Hotel guests are loving it. Zandegù is an absolute character. ‘When I’m done racing and winning,’ he says with a smile, ‘I’ll become an actor’“.
In the end, he didn’t take the stage – on screen, anyway. Instead, Zandegù moved into the team car, becoming a directeur sportif for nearly three decades. Still, he remained a familiar face on Italian television, especially during RAI’s legendary Processo alla Tappa, where he won fans all over again with his charm
