Gastone Nencini

Who was Gastone Nencini?

Gastone Nencini was an Italian road racing cyclist who won the 1960 Tour de France and the 1957 Giro d'Italia.

Nicknamed Il Leone del Mugello, "The Lion of Mugello", Nencini was a powerful all-rounder, particularly strong in the mountains.

He was an amateur painter and a chain smoker. He was a gifted descender. "The only reason to follow Nencini downhill would be if you had a death wish", said the French rider Raphaël Géminiani. It was in trying to follow Nencini down a mountain that Roger Rivière missed a bend, crashed over a wall and broke his spine.