Alfonsina Strada

Alfonsina Strada (; 16 March 1891 – 13 September 1959) was an Italian cyclist, the only woman to have ridden one of cycling's three major stage races. She started in the Giro d'Italia in 1924 when the organisers mistook her for a man. Newspapers called her The Devil in a dress. Further reports speak of her family considering her passion for cycling to have been the work of the devil, that it had the evil eye. Some reports say that she was one of eight children; others that she was one of 10, with eight brothers; still others that she had 10 brothers. Her living conditions as a child may have been romanticised by reporters and gone unexamined as her legend grew.

According to lore, Morini grew up a tomboy, playing with her brothers and their friends and riding her father's bicycle until she was 10 and her father bought her a bike in exchange for chickens. Romantic accounts say that villagers crossed themselves as she rode past, dressed and behaving more like a boy than a girl. Her mother is said to have pressed her to become a seamstress.

In 1911 she went to Moncalieri, now in the southern suburbs of Turin, and set an hour record of 37.192 km.

She won 36 races against men and became the friend of riders such as Costante Girardengo. She raced at Bologna and Paris and twice rode the Giro di Lombardia at a time when it was open to all. She finished 32nd and last in the 1917 race, an hour and 34 minutes behind the Belgian Philippe Thys. She completed the 204 km course in 8h 32m. and finished 21st, ahead of several men.

Marriage In 1915, when 24, Morini married Luigi Strada, a metal plater and engraver, who was also a rider and racer. He gave her a new racing bike with dropped bars as a present. It offered places for 90 riders and promised 600 chickens, 750 kg of other meat, 4,800 bananas and 720 eggs. But there would be no managers, no masseurs, no mechanics and no team cars. In 1937, in Paris, she defeated the French champion, Robin.

Memories of Alfonsina Strada In 2010 the Italian band Têtes de bois published the song "Alfonsina e la bici" dedicated to Alfonsina Strada.

The videoclip of the song has the Italian astrophysicist Margherita Hack starring as Alfonsina Strada.

From 2024 onwards, the first rider to pass the highest climb of Giro d'Italia Women cycling race is awarded the "Cima Alfonsina Strada" – a prize named in honour of Strada.