Voted the most popular Italian sportsman of the twentieth century Fausto Angelo Coppi was the campionissimo
- champion of champions The greatest cyclist of the immediate post-war years he was the first man to win cycling's great double the Tour de France & Tour of Italy in the same year
- & he did it twice He achieved mythical status for his crushing solo victories world titles & world records But his significance extends far beyond his sport Coppi's scandalous divorce & controversial early death convulsed a conservative staunchly Roman Catholic Italy in the 1950s At a time when adultery was still illegal Coppi & his lover were dragged from their bed in the middle of the night excommunicated & forced to face a clamorous legal battle The ramifications of this case are still being felt today In Fallen Angel acclaimed cycling biographer William Fotheringham tells the tragic story of Coppi's life & death
- of how a man who became the symbol of a nation's rebirth after the disasters of war died reviled & heartbroken Told with insight & intelligence this is a unique portrait of Italy & Italian sport at a time of tumultuous change