Maglia nera
Year Rider Team Time
1946 Luigi Malabrocca ( ITA ) Milan-Gazzetta 0 69h 41 ' 54
1947 Luigi Malabrocca ( ITA ) Welter 121h 47 ' 27
1948 Aldo Bini ( ITA ) Benotto 128h 59 ' 43
1949 Sante Carollo ( ITA ) Wilier Triestina 135h 22 ' 57
1950 Mario Gestri ( ITA ) Bartali 122h 28 ' 37
1951 Giovanni Pinarello ( ITA ) Bottecchia 124h 37 ' 48
Winners
The Maglia Nera was a black jersey awarded as a symbolic prize in cycling competition at the Giro d'Italia, given to the last man to finish the race. It was allocated between 1946 and 1951. The competition for the jersey came from the time Italian soccer star Giuseppe Ticozzelli who competed in the 1926 Giro d'Italia as an independent while wearing a black jersey. He completed three stages and would often take rest breaks for food, not worried about the time to complete the stage and dropped out of the race. There was real competition to win this particular jersey. Especially noted are the struggles between Sante Carollo and Luigi Malabrocca, to see who could waste the most time. Each tried to lose more time than the other by hiding in bars, barns, and behind hedges, or even by puncturing their own wheels. In 1948 the honor was awarded to the Tuscan Aldo Bini, who according to some journalists and fans of the time, stubbornly continued the race until the end, despite a broken right hand suffered in a mass crash, and the suffering that especially in the mountain stages forced him to get off the bike and push it uphill. The special ability of the black jersey was, in addition to not being discovered, to reach the finish directly within the maximum time. The term maglia nera was later used in other contexts to indicate the bottom club in a league, often giving it a negative connotation. In 2008 a similar black number was introduced, won by Markus Eichler of Team Milram.