1968 World Championships, Official Race Poster -Road Race Winner, Vittorio Adorni

Championnats du Monde de Cyclisme 1968

Campionati Mondiali di Ciclismo, Rome & Imola, Italy

Bold and energetic, this original 1968 poster promoted the UCI World Cycling Championships held in Rome and Imola. Its dramatic circular composition is divided into broad diagonal bands of blue, red, black, green, and yellow—the five colors associated with the world champion’s rainbow jersey. A racing cyclist is reproduced as a stark, high-contrast photographic image across the bands, while the dates, championship title, and other typography follow the same rising diagonal.

The championship title appears in both French and Italian, reflecting the event’s international audience. The poster promotes track racing in Rome from August 26 through 29 and road racing in Imola on August 31 and September 1. It also carries the names of the three governing organizations: CONI, the Italian National Olympic Committee; the UCI, cycling’s international governing body; and the Federazione Ciclistica Italiana.

At Imola, the professional men’s race on September 1 produced one of the most commanding World Championship victories in cycling history. Vittorio Adorni attacked alone with approximately 90 kilometers remaining on the demanding 15.4-kilometer Tre Monti circuit. After riding alone for more than two hours, he entered the Imola motor-racing circuit to an enormous reception and won the 277.3-kilometer race in 7 hours, 27 minutes, and 39 seconds. Belgium’s Herman Van Springel finished second, 9 minutes and 50 seconds behind, with Italy’s Michele Dancelli third. Adorni’s winning margin remains the largest in the modern history of the professional men’s World Championship road race. Only 19 riders were classified, and Italians occupied five of the first six places.  Dutch rider Keetie van Oosten-Hage won the women’s road race ahead of Soviet rider Baiba Caune and Italy’s Morena Tartagni.

The professional men’s and women’s track championships were held at Rome’s Olympic Velodrome. Italy’s Giuseppe Beghetto won the professional sprint, Britain’s Hugh Porter captured the professional individual pursuit, and Belgium’s Leo Proost won the professional motor-paced championship. Soviet riders won both women’s events, with Alla Baguiniantz taking the sprint and Raisa Obodovskaya the individual pursuit. The amateur track championships were held separately in Montevideo later that year and are not represented by the dates printed on this poster.

Giorgio Pirrotta, an Italian graphic designer born in Chiasso, Switzerland, in 1931, is the artist. Pirrotta studied sculpture at Milan’s Brera Academy before moving into commercial graphic design and becoming art director of Studio Linea in Rome in 1955. His clients included Alitalia, American Express, Q8, BNL, Peroni, and Pernigotti. Particularly relevant to this poster, he helped create the graphic program for World Championships organized by the Italian Cycling Federation. He later devoted himself to painting and philately and received an art prize from the International Olympic Committee in 1986.

A striking example of late-1960s Italian graphic design, this poster combines photography, vivid blocks of color, and sharply angled typography with the history of an unforgettable World Championship.

This poster has been archivally and professionally linen-backed.

Virtually all original vintage posters of this era were viewed as temporary advertising and were printed on very thin paper. While expensive, linen backing is a conservation method used to mount, stabilize, preserve, and protect vintage posters, allowing them to be displayed or framed without compromising their value.