Coppi and Bartali’s water bottle, Zanardi who hooks up to an opponent on a handbike, the West Ham winger who doesn’t shoot because one is down and the other gestures that are worth more than a victory
Go and win, do it for me. Reaching the finish line together and at that point slowing down, stepping aside, slipping out. Please, this is good and who knows, maybe even right. The cyclists Van Aert and Laporte arriving on parade, the Belgian leaving the victory to his companion. Issue number 85 of Ghent-Wevelgem. Both are on the cover. One because he won, the other because he won twice. In the great sports novel, altruistic gestures are rare and precious, even more than we think. Sometimes it even happens that they pass arm in arm, and they are the most beautiful. Nobody gets to know it, except the protagonists. Other times – more often in these times so public and so visible to all – the gesture is gratuitous, but amplified by the side dish. It would be nice to talk about these fair play gestures without unnecessary rhetoric, but slipping into that territory is a snap.
#Van #Aert #Canio #champion #lends #hand
