The American, Hiltner, Affirms Himself at Monsummano

An American victory in a Tuscan bike race is a new happening
in the chronicles of the last 90 years.
In February of 1870, Rynner Van Heste won a velocipede race
on the Firenze-Pistoia course with an average speed of 15 km./hr.
Today, an unknown youngster from California, short and lean,
won the Monsummano criterium.
At least that was the jury’s call, but the officials of the U.V.I.
will have to examine the protest of U.S. Salco, wherin it is claimed
the race was won by the Pistoiese, Graziano Corsini.
The sprint between the two riders was thrilling,
uncertain all the way to the banner.

The Californian is Michael Hiltner; born 7 March 1941 in L.A.,
and in three years of competition has won twenty-five races.
Last year he participated at the Rome Olympiad,
in the Grottarossa road race that was won by the Russian, Kapitonov
ahead of our Trape. Then he moved to Firenze
to finish his studies, but also to do sport. He’s licensed with Lastrense-Gizac,
coached by Bruno Bartali, ex-masseur of the Italian team.

Hiltner lent interest and character to this amateur race
with a long breakaway together with Ceccarelli, Corsini, and Picchiotti.
After the finish, the young American broke down,
while fans enthusiastically surrounded him.
With a lump in his throat, tears ran down the face of
this expatriated boy, a stranger in the crowd.
His friends, Bronson, Johnson, and Zebroski, also Lastrense teammates,
were the first to congratulate him,
while we sought to learn something about him.

It’s not a great victory, to be sure. But we must consider it an upset,
a highlight, an event unlike so many others,
and therefore also controversial,
because Hiltner didn’t win in a clearcut manner.
In fact, we must say that this, his flag-raising, is still in dispute;
the photo-finish will decide it.
The fact remains, however, that the Californian cyclist
was one of the few brilliant protagonists of the Monsummano criterium.
Today, when Hiltner got into that breakaway,
no one guessed at his success against three certainly not unknown
Tuscans: Corsini, Ceccarelli, and Picchiotti.
The latter was in truth vanquished big-time,
though his race conduct was praiseworthy during
almost the entire unfolding of the competition.

5 March 1961
Reporter: Romano Beghelli

The American, Hiltner, Victorious at Quarrata

Michael Hiltner, the American of the Lastrense club,
today won the Quarrata National Bar Cup II.
The start, at 12:30 sharp, saw 57 athletes race off at high speed,
and after only a few kilometers, on the first climb of the day,
the Carmignano, to be exact, thirteen men: Moppi, Vignolini, Angelini,
Bardassi, Hiltner, Righini, Baccini, Signorini, Corsini, Capitoni,
Tempestini, Pinzi, and Bitossi took the reins in hand, breaking away.
At the passage through Quarrata, at the 34 km. mark,
the fugitives had about one minute on the compact, chasing pack.
This remained constant until the 75 km. mark.

On San Baronto grade came the selection. At the summit,
Corsini came over first, with Hiltner and Bitossi on his wheel,
and the others at about thirty meters.
On the descent and the flatlands of Pistoia,
Tempestini, Angelini, Baccini, and Righini caught the three leaders,
and together they rode to the finish, where the crucial sprint
of the American held off the adversaries: Baccini and Tempestini,
thus winning this splendid race contested by the best of Tuscan amateurs.

25 April 1961
Reporter: Giuliano Masetti
Translated by Victor Vincente of America

The Californian Hiltner Wins the G.P. Reynolds

Michael Hiltner: to see him in chamois and jersey,
one wouldn’t bet on him and one would say -- mistakenly --
that in the midst of all those youngsters that stand head and shoulders above him,
the blond twenty-year-old Californian who has temporarily
closed his textbooks (he is, in fact, a college student)
to dedicate himself, body and soul, to the exhausting sport of cycling,
would be able to pass as a tourist, more than anything else.

If, however, we see him in the race (and we always do),
in the heat of battle, we are constrained to change our mind.
Hiltner, in fact, is there in the thick of it, and he fits in well.
Perhaps lacking in style (and who could have taught him
how to ride a bike in America?), perhaps (but this happened more often
in the past: now it’s different because Hiltner is too clever a dude
to not quickly pick up on clever ways), perhaps, we were saying,
it seems like he doesn’t understand that taking pace is done
artfully and measuredly; it seems he’ll blow up any minute.
But after two, three hours, as long as nothing happens to him
in the meantime, he’s still there, at the head of the race,
ready to make use of his powerful sprint, which has already given him
three nice wins. Three victories that will (this is his special dream)
clear the way for his city to place his statue in a park in his home town,
far beyond the ocean.

17 July 1961
Reporter: Benito Polverosi
Translated by Victor Vincente of America

Fitting Sprint Win for Hiltner (Gizac) in G.P. Reynolds

The greatest success imaginable rewarded, yesterday, the labors
completed by the organizers of the G.P. Reynolds for amateurs.
No one really could have asked for more.

57 starters in the race, and over twenty of them have succeded in winning
at least two victories this year. Four -- Toscana, Emilia-Romagna,
Liguria, and Umbria -- the regions represented.
But this is nothing: since the nature of the route, the many intermediate primes
that required the utmost of the riders, and to cap it all, the audacity
of a handful of front-line characters raised this San Casciano race
to the high level of those competitions that deserve,
and will deserve, a top rating on the yearly balance sheet.

Held up to the mirror of these necessary premises
the Californian Michael Hiltner’s victory does not expose flank to any criticism,
and serves, rather, to complement with international flavor,
the positive facets that our reportage covers over the 175 km. course
which includes five very difficult climbs.

Hiltner won at San Casciano using -- as he did on the two previous occasions:
at the season opener criterium, and two months ago at Quarrata --
the killer sprint given him by Mother Nature.
This, his latest win, is one of those that one doesn’t debate.
It is, in fact, one of great technical value, for the will power, the consistency,
the tactical intelligence, and the notable resistance to fatigue
demanded by the nature of the course, and by the threat of
the most qualified adversaries.

Hiltner can now consider himself a fully developed amateur,
because yesterday he demonstrated to have completely assimilated
what it takes to race in Italy (in America he surely didn’t have at his disposal
a valiant coach like Bruno Bartali, nor the perfect technical support
he now has in the Gizac), and to race, we’ll add,
with very good chances for success every time.

On the athletic level, he was second to none. He was the first
to jump away as soon as the going got tough (on the climb to Gore),
and when he was once again reeled in, he did his bit
to annul a try by Mugnaini, Chiarini, Vignolini, Poggiali, and Meucci
(heavy-duty racers, that is, in Toscana), together with other
occasional collaborators.

Anyway, when only 40 km. had been ridden, and there remained, therefore,
135 to go, he didn’t have to be asked to join in with Chiarini and Vignolini,
off the front once again, and to give to the race, together with them,
its aspect that would not change -- this is a sign of indisputably
good conditioning. In the sprint, then, his adversaries lost sight of him.
Vignolini, second, was well outdistanced.
Vignolini and Chiarini (the latter took fifth) earn the merit of having initiated
the decisive episode, and of having done their part
to support the brunt of the attack that was carried off so quickly and suddenly,
and so positively resolved, lest it not be said.

If they didn’t do better than their nonetheless great placings
(and surely they had every opportunity), it was their own fault:
Vignolini not having maintained, on the first climb,
the role of roadie, with the requisite grit; and Chiarini having flat-out
intended to call it quits two times: first, climbing with riders
as valiant as Vignolini, Meucci, and Poggiali (he finished in extremis
in the vanguard), and then again in the sprint with Hiltner who,
lacking any other means to impose his will except in a sprint,
succeded, with carefree intelligence and a pinch of authority,
in shuffling the cards of his worthy and dangerous opponents.

In conclusion, lets remember Zinci (many kilometers in the lead,
then beaten by fatigue at the foot of Barberino, 30 km. from the end),
Poggiali, Campigli, and Franco Parrini; three instigators of
a pursuit that brought the standard-bearer of Toscano Atala to
a brilliant fourth place, brought the Cori boy to the very heels of
the unreachable trailblazers, while the exploit of the Oltrarno representative
was irremediably compromised by a puncture.

Nothing could detract from the substance of this fine race.
The San Cascianese, therefore, will long enjoy the memory left in the embrace
of their village by the participants in this most successful
Gran Premio Reynolds.

17 July 1961
Reporter: Benito Polverosi
Translated by Victor Vincente of America

The American, Hiltner, SuperWins the Parker Trophy
at Calcinaia

Out of 57 starters, there was one American, wearing number 40.
An American victory would be fitting for the G.P. Parker,
but few thought that Hiltner would know how to win such a difficult race,
and with rivals such as Mugnaini of Alfa Cure, who was the favorite,
Baccilleri, last year’s winner, and others difficult to leave behind.
But he waxed them all, with the authority of a consummate champion,
breaking away on the climb of San Martino, immediately after
Poggibonsi; crossing first at Barberino, where he already had 1’30”
on Petroni and Rossi, and 2’ on Dori and Bedini,
and increasing his lead to 3’55” over Mugnaini, Dori, and Zinci
at San Casciano, and taking it to 5’ at the finish.

That Hiltner was one of the favorites was a known fact
in the whole region of this racecourse, and the great affection
the townspeople feel for this Californian was shown in
all its fullness at the finish, where a joyous throng swept away
the winner, lifting him from the saddle and going with him in triumph
to receive his well-deserved prize.

We, who followed the race for 145 km, had the chance to observethat
in the whole region, the blond American is known, admired, and loved.
His race conduct and his modesty at the finish (he seemed embarrassed)
won over everyone. We sincerely wish Hiltner ever greater successes
to add to his four wins and three second places this year.
As for the others, we’ll say their attempts were cancelled out
by the big-time effort of the winner, and only Mugnaini, Dori, and Zinci
were able, with their strength and courage, to stand up to the dominator.

A magnificent, sunny day, and race organization perfect in every way.
Lots of well-behaved spectators along a difficult, great course.
These were the positive notes that, in addition to the great showing of
the first finishers, make the G.P. Parker one of the best races of the season.
We said the course was hard, but it’s hard to give a clear picture
of the real difficulty of at least one stretch.
The final kilometer that took us from Lastra a Signa to Calcinaia
is a 20% to 25% grade, with truly formidable sections.
The uphill finish showed us the souls of the riders, who passed
under the banner exhausted and melted by the sun.

Out of 57 starters, only 23 finished: less than half.
This gives some idea of how gruelling the race was.
However, it was a winning race, and each year
the organizers improve on the finishing touches.

The rundown of the race consists of a series of breakaways
that from the start brought unrest to the peloton.
At Poggibonsi, Hiltner passed through first, followed by Bedini,
Antonelli, Rossi, Baroncelli, Mantovani, and Bianchi, all with the same time,
while at 1’ followed Crudelli, Amerini, Garofano, and four others.
Then, on the climb to San Martino, Hiltner stood on the pedals,
arched his back, and his racing colleagues saw him again at the finish.

7 August 1961
Reporter: Federico Pasquinucci
Translated by Victor Vincente of America