In the current era we have been entertained by the performances of Spartacus (Cancellara), Lo Squalo (The shark-Vincenzo Nibali), El Pistolero (Alberto Contador) and the Manx Missile (Mark Cavendish).
In previous decades there have been equally well known labels, either by popular use or self promotion. These included The Lion of Flanders (Museeuw), Il Diablo (Claudio Chiapucci), The Tashkent Terror (the very unpredictable sprinter Abdujaparov), The Pirate (Pantani), The Badger (Bernard Hunault), King Kelly (Sean Kelly), The Angel of the Mountains (Charly Gaul), The Bricklayer of Frioul (Botttechia) and Maitre Jacques (Anquetil).
The derivation of the nicknames can be an obvious play, pun or alliteration on the riders name, representing a particular characteristic on the bike or a temperament off it, a specialism in a particular riding discipline, where formative years were spent or a vocation prior to becoming a professional rider.
Taking these basic rules behind the nicknaming process you can let your imagination run riot when confronted by that of a rider who competed in and finished albeit in last place in the Tour of Lombardy in 1917, that of "The devil in a dress".
The bedraggled finisher, an hour and a half behind the winner, Philippe Thys, was Alfonsina Strada.
Born in 1891 and always a bit of a tomboy she took to cycling on a second hand bike that her father had acquired for her in exchange for a few chickens. Her mother thought that her daughter was attending Catholic Mass when in fact she was out riding with the local boys and showing some athletic aptitude on two wheels.
Aged 13, in her first competitive race, she won amongst a mixed field. First Prize, a pig, seemed to win over any doubts that her father had of a girl participating in a dangerous and hard sport but her mother was completely opposed to this and consequently, at the young age of 14 Alfonsina was married off to an engraver in a nearby town, Luigi Strada. His surname being the Italian for road, it follows that he was more than happy to encourage her cycling and as a wedding present he had provided her with a new racing bike.
In a move to the cycling capital of North Italy, Milan, Alfonsina was able to race on a regular basis catching the attention of sponsors and manufacturers which led to an invitation to participate in The Grand Prix of St Petersburg in Russia where she met Czar Nicholas.
It is thought that she was the only female at that time at a level to compete in mixed races.
Inclusion in two Tours de Lombardy during the years of the first world war could have been motivated by publicity conscious promoters. These were the early years of the halycon period for the personal freedom that could be experienced through cycling and women were a tangible proportion of the market for bike manufacturers.
One year after her baptism of fire in Lombardy Alfonsina showed improvement in her placing (second from last) but significantly only 23 minutes behind the victor, Belloni.
These showings were to be surpassed in the 1924 Giro D'Italia. Although entering as Alfonsin Strada her true identity and gender were soon revealed. The 1923 Almanac for Italian Women declared that the purpose of sport was not to "force the body to dangerous excesses and ridiculous exaggerations". The women who watched Alfonsina competing with the men in 1924 were duly scandalised, believing the tomboyish woman with the bare legs to be entirely unrepresentative of their sex.
The race that year started off in reasonable weather and Strada was going well until an horrendous deluge on the eighth stage wreaked havoc in the peleton causing crashes and abandonments. Cycling folklore tells that after crashing and braking her handlebars Alfonsina took a sweeping broom from a peasant on the roadside and jammed it into the headset giving some semblance of steering ability. It must have been a great struggle notwithstanding an exceptional display of bike handling just to finish the stage although outside of the time limit.
The cut off led to her being excluded from continuing the Giro but the editor in chief of La Gazzetta newspaper paid her expenses and she continued to complete the whole of the national tour some 28 hours down on General Classification. Often alone, often in the dark, Alfonsina continued to ride every single millimetre of the mammoth 3,613km route. She arrived in Milan a heroine of sorts, feted by Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel, the recipient of cups and medals, jerseys and ear-rings and a 50,000 lire prize raised by donations from a newly sympathetic public. In the context of being one of only thirty finishers out of ninety starters the ride was exceptional, regardless of her sex.
In retirement from competition Alfonsina kept links with the sport that she loved and ran a bike shop in Milan in the 1950's.
A pedal bike was exchanged for a powerful motorbike in her later years and she died of a heart attack, aged 68, when struggling to lift up her Moto Guzzi after it had toppled over just after she had been to see a local cycle race.
Hers was a remarkable life story, in terms of her physical prowess and ability to overcome hardships, prejudice and sexism in the sporting years during and after the first world war. She attained many new heights for women in cycling including a road speed record of 37km/hr on a hefty 20kg machine in 1911.
Alfonsina Strada's efforts have only really been emulated in recent years with the emergence of dedicated professional women racers and a support structure enabling competition alongside the long established male professional ranks.
(sources; Monuments by Peter Cossins, Cycling Sport in the Guardian, photo suppliers)
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