Moser, 40 years ago the challenge with the horse Lanson

In the moment of greatest fame of his extraordinary career, Francesco Moser was asked to challenge a horse. The question might have seemed like a joke from Circus Barnum but in the end the most famous cyclist in Italy willingly accepted. After all, what’s wrong with the suggestion that animated the dispute: does a man on a bicycle or a horse run faster? Spoiler: Moser won and what follows is the story of how things went down. It was 1984, March 4th, a Sunday. The challenge, scheduled over a distance of one kilometre, was held in Milan, at the San Siro racecourse. The organizers decided to set the start at 6.30pm, that is, at the end of the Sunday trotting conference, which focused that day on the European Grand Prix. Moser running alongside the horse was supposed to be the highlight of the day’s menu. The horse, therefore. This was the native trotter Lanson, who at the time held the double kilometer record. Born in Bruno Branchini in 1977 from the chestnut Bourbon and Evidana, Lanson was in those years – like Moser too – at the height of his splendor. A horse of extraordinary class, with greater stamina than his very fast sire Bourbon, he was the European record holder at two years old, and then strung together a series of successes – and a total prize money of almost 500 million lire – which made him a celebrity. in the field. On the sulky of the chestnut of the Milanese Rebbran team was Sergio Brighenti, namesake of the center forward who twenty years earlier had enjoyed good popularity among football fans.