After 15 stages of the Giro d’Italia, Tadej Pogačar’s lead stands at 6:41. Seventy years have passed since a maglia rosa reached the same point in the race with a bigger advantage, but the circumstances of Carlo Clerici’s hold on the lead could scarcely have been more different.
The 1954 Giro has gone down in lore for the fuga bidone – the soft break – on the road to L’Aquila in the opening week that allowed Clerici to open up what became an insurmountable lead. After stage 15, Clerici led by 14:18, and aided by Swiss teammate Hugo Koblet, the strongest man in the race, he carried pink to Milan a week later.
