{"product_id":"giro-ditalia-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-beautiful-bike-race","title":"Giro d'Italia: The Story of the World's Most Beautiful Bike Race","description":"\u003cp\u003eBorn of tumult in 1909, the Giro d'Italia helped unite a nation. Since then it has reflected it too; the race's capricious and unpredictable nature matching the passions and extremes of Italy itself. A desperately hard race through a beautiful country, the Giro has bred characters and stories that dramatise the shifting culture and society of its home: Alfonsina Strada, who cropped her hair and raced against the men in 1924. Ottavio Bottecchia, expected to challenge for the winner's Maglia Rosa in 1928, until killed on a training ride, probably by Mussolini's Black Shirts. Fausto Coppi, the metropolitan playboy with amphetamines in his veins, guided by a mystic blind masseur; and his arch rival Gino Bartali; humble, pious and countrified (and brave: recently it emerged he smuggled papers for persecuted Jewish Italians). The Giro's most tragic hero - Marco Pantani, born to climb but fated to lose. Halted only by World Wars, the Giro has been contested since 1909.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Profile Books Limited\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781781257173\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"O'Brien, Colin","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £1.01","offer_id":47953853022385,"sku":"SB-1781257175-C3","price":1.01,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/sellbooks.co.uk\/products\/giro-ditalia-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-beautiful-bike-race","provider":"Sell Books .co.uk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}