frtour1-4, Exercise 1: Coppi and Bartali

Model answer (check the details):

Case for a political story:
- Italy after the war was divided between the Christian Democrats, backed by the Church, and the Communists; the press and public mapped the two riders onto the two camps (Bartali the devout, Coppi the modern), whatever the riders thought.
- The legend that Bartali's 1948 win calmed the country after the shooting of Togliatti shows how a sporting success was read as a national event (check).

Case for a sporting story:
- They were two great riders of different styles and ages, with a long record of races against each other, and their rivalry is explained by the results.
- The political reading was largely a creation of journalists and later retellings, and both men's own statements were more complicated (check).

Method: look at the 1940s press coverage to see how the rivalry was framed at the time, and compare with later biographies. Distinguish what the riders said, what the papers said and what fans believed.

Care: the political reading may be partly myth, and the details should be checked in a biography.