Cencio Mantovani

Originally a track specialist who came up through the ranks of the S.C. Excelsior Milano club, Mantovani was 22-years-old when chosen for the Italian pursuit squad for the 1964 season. He was a member of the national team that took the silver medal behind Germany at the World Championships in Paris and, a month later, at the Tokyo Olympics, the Italians were beaten for gold by only 0.07 seconds by the same German team. After his return from Tokyo, Mantovani opted to stay in the amateur ranks and collected yet another silver medal at the 1965 World Championships in Spain.

He finally joined the professional peloton for 1966 but his tenures with the Italian Salamini-Comet and Germanvox-Wega teams brought little success. Mantovani rode the Giro d’Italia in both 1968 and 1969 with a best finish of 3rd on stage 22 and an overall 71st place in the former year. At the end of the decade he decided to retire and set up the Nalini-Moa Sport brand of cycling wear in partnership with his brother Claudio, a football goalkeeper who played in Italy’s top division. Among the athletes they clothed in his products over the years were Miguel Indurain, Marco Pantani, and Alberto Contador.

Mantovani, a keen pilot, passed away at only 48 when his microlight aircraft crashed near the city of Mantua. The Memorial Vincenzo Mantovani race is held every year in his honour in the town of Castel d’Ario.