Milan, 23 June (LaPresse) – Gold medal in Rome in 1960, silver medal in Tokyo in 1964. The world of sport mourns the passing of Franco Testa, an extraordinary cyclist born in Padua on 7 February 1938, who died at the age of 87. The news was announced by CONI. The Venetian athlete, an ironic, outspoken man with infectious enthusiasm, was one of the four protagonists (together with Marino Vigna, Luigi Arienti and Mario Vallotto) of the Olympic triumph on home soil in the team pursuit on the track, when the Azzurri won with a sensational time of 4'30"90, beating Germany in the final. Four years later, in Japan, Testa (photo FCI) came close to repeating his success in the same event with Vincenzo Mantovani, Carlo Rancati and Luigi Roncaglia, finishing in second place and adding a second Olympic medal to the trophy cabinet of his splendid career. He also won silver at the 1964 World Championships in Paris alongside Attilio Benfatto and Mantovani and Rancati, and in 2015 he was awarded the Collare d'Oro al merito sportivo (Gold Collar for Sporting Merit) by CONI, the highest honour in Italian sport, for his success at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Expressing the feelings of the entire movement, CONI President Giovanni Malagò ‘extends the condolences of Italian sport to the family and the Italian Cycling Federation’.
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