He hid lifesaving papers in his bicycle frame and asked for no credit — the quietest kind of courage.

He won the Tour de France twice. Then used his bike as cover to help Jews escape the Nazis.

Gino Bartali, an Italian cyclist who won the Giro d'Italia in 1936 and 1937 and the Tour de France in 1938, joined an underground network after Nazi Germany occupied northern and central Italy in September 1943. Recruited by Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa, he rode hundreds of miles between Florence, Lucca, Genoa, Assisi and Rome carrying forged identity papers and photographs for Jews hidden inside his bicycle frame. He rarely discussed the work and refused to be recorded. After his death in 2000, Yad Vashem recognized him in 2013 as Righteous Among the Nations.

Source: He won the Tour de France twice. Then used his bike as cover to help Jews escape the Nazis. — Upworthy

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A daily AI-made news meme from Jester · Oct 5, 2026.