Former Italian pro Stefano Casagranda has died at 52 after a long battle against cancer.
Born in Trentino, one of northern Italy's cycling heartlands, Casagranda was a pro between 1996 and 2004. He raced for home-based squads for his entire career, starting out in the prestigious MG Maglficio-Technogym team alongside riders as well-known as Michele Bartoli and Gianni Bugno.
He ended his pro racing days with a final year at Saeco, where he was a teammate of double Giro d'Italia winner and fellow-Trentino native Gilberto Simoni.
Casagranda's biggest win came in his first year at Paris-Nice, battling through snow and torrential rain on a 100-kilometre solo break to take a lone stage win at Millau ahead of the pack containing future overall winner Laurent Jalabert by just 27 seconds.
"What should have been the easiest stage of the race suddenly turned out to be the most dangerous," Jalabert said afterwards, according to a Cyclingnews report from that day. "It was four hours of real chanciness."
"At one point I wanted to put on a second rain jacket," added top British racer Chris Boardman, finally third overall after winning the last time trial. "I had to stop because I couldn't bend my arms, they were so cold."
Casagranda's victory in the epically difficult conditions came after taking off after early breakaway Dominique Bozzi, who, when told Casagranda was on his tail, replied to his sports director, "Me, I'm from Corsica, I'm not scared of anyone." That lack of fear didn't stop Casagranda from overtaking him with 50 kilometres left to race, though and ploughing through the tough conditions alone, all the way to the finish: in his first year as a pro, a real breakthrough result.
While principally a domestique during his career, other victories included stages of the Giro del Trentino – now the Tour of the Alps – the Vuelta a Castilla y Léon and the Tour of Denmark. Casagranda also raced eleven Grand Tours, working for various leaders.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, just a few days ago, former teammates, friends and current pros from the area, including Simoni, Fabio Baldato, Francesco Moser and Giuilio Pellizzari, paid Casagranda a visit at home in a show of support. Meanwhile, the local club, Veloce Club Borgo A.S.D., sent him a message on their social media: "Thanks for everything, Champion, it's been an honour to have you as president."
