Andrea Carrea

Andrea Carrea (born August 14, 1924 in Gavi Ligure, Italy) is a former Italian professional road bicycle racer. He was the first to ride the Alpe d'Huez in the yellow jersey of leadership in the Tour de France and probably the only rider to have wept in distress at accidentally leading the race. Andrea Carrea was a professional from 1948 to 1958. For much of that time he rode as a domestique for Fausto Coppi, of whom he was in awe. "He was a gregario par excellence," said the journalist Jean-Luc Gatellier, "the incarnation of personal disinterest... showing to perfection the notion of personal sacrifice. He refused the slightest bit of personal glory." Carrea had the face of a "wicked fairy and [a] Cyranesque nose," said the...