Gino Bartali, who won the Giro d’Italia three times and the Tour de France twice, was one of Italy’s most beloved cyclists.

Bartali is credited with saving the lives of over 800 Italian Jews during WWII, by transporting counterfeit documents hidden in his bike.

Now, a cycling school is slated to open in his honor. The Gino Bartali Youth Development School will focus both on personal and cycling development, while celebrating diversity and doing good in the world.

This September, the Gino Bartali Youth Leadership School will open in Ben Shemen Youth Village, Israel. The school is named in honor of Gino Bartali, a beloved Italian cyclist who used his celebrity status to help save the lives of Italian Jews during WWII.



At the start WWII, Bartali had already won the Giro d’Italia twice and the Tour de France once. A devout Catholic, he was recruited into the Italian resistance by his local Cardinal, Della Costa, who began helping a local rabbi and the Assisi Network once the Germans started deporting Italian Jews in 1943.



Under the pretense of training, Bartali would set off from his hometown of Florence with life-saving, counterfeit documents hidden away in his handlebars. These fake identity documents would be used to help Jews escape across the border, or at least help hide their Jewish ethnicity if they were ever stopped and questioned. He would often ride as far as Assisi (over 100 miles one way), where many Jews were being hidden in Franciscan convents, CNN reports.

Whenever he was stopped by the Fascist secret police, he would ask that his bike not be touched, claiming it had been specially set up to achieve maximum speed. The Fascist police and Germans were also hesitant to bother him in the first place, given his status as a national hero.

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As a result, Bartali is credited with helping save the lives of over 800 Italian Jews. Afterwards, he went on to win another Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, but he never really spoke about his remarkable efforts during the war.

“Good is something you do, not something you talk about,” Bartali once said. He passed away in 2000 at the age of 85.

Ran Margaliot, a former world tour pro cyclist and the founder of Israel’s first pro cycling team, first learned about Bartali in 2007 when he was recruited to help get Bartali recognized as one of the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem at the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, a program which recognizes non-Jews who took great risks to help Jews during the Holocaust. (He was eventually recognized in 2013).



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After helping Bartali gain recognition, Margaliot came to know Bartali’s family, and with them organized several initiatives in memory Bartali’s legacy. That sparked the idea to create the cycling school, to “create a commemorative institute that would truly represent the values Gino Bartali believed in.”

Andrea Bartali in front of his father’s name on the Wall of Honor at Yad Vashem. GALI TIBBON Getty Images

The Gino Bartali Youth Leadership school will be open to youth of all nationalities and religions. Their mission is to use cycling development as a way to bridge cultural divides and celebrate diversity, and as a way of teaching valuable life skills like self-discipline, teamwork, and leadership.

Online enrollment, which began on March 15, will end on June 10. Twelve boys and 12 girls will be accepted into the program by June 20, and the program itself starts September 1. The program covers the disciplines of road cycling, mountain biking, BMX, and track cycling. Students will receive full room and board, personalized coaching, nutrition, and training, as well as all of the gear required to participate.

They’re looking for students of diverse religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, who are aspiring to be elite cyclists as well as accomplished scholars.

Gino Bartali Youth Development School

“We see Bartali as an exceptional role model, both on the bike and in life,” Margaliot told Bicycling. “This special initiative, focusing on education, diversity and inclusion of youth from all across society, is one that Bartali would have been very proud of.”

While the program is looking for its students to do well in cycling, it’s also focused on developing their dedication to doing good in the world—just like its famous namesake.

For as Bartali also once said, “Some medals are pinned to your soul, not to your jacket.”

Jessica Coulon Assistant Digital Editor When she’s not out riding her mountain bike, Jessica reports on news, gear, and all things cycling related for Bicycling.

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