Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #19 - Livio Trape

Livio Trape

Italy

Road Cycling

Overall Ranks

#3 among Road Cyclists

#3 among Italian Olympians

#2 among Italian Cyclists

Olympic Results

1960

Team Time Trial - Gold

Road Race - Silver

Total

Events - 2

Gold - 1

Silver - 1

Livio Trape was born on May 26, 1937 in Montefiascone, Italy, and gained a reputation in early adulthood as a great amateur road racer, winning a ton of races and that national championship, before competing in the Olympics in 1960 in Rome.

The Olympics began with a team time trial, raced over 100 km with teams of 4 riders each, with teams starting at intervals, and the time of the last rider crossing the finish line counting as the team's time. On their home course, the Italians dominated, winning by more than 2 minutes and 20 seconds, and Trape had an Olympic gold medal to add to his accomplishments.

A few days later was the individual road race, which consisted of 12 laps of a 14.6 km course on a very hot day. On the second lap, a Dutch rider opened up a 46 second lead, and was joined by one of his teammates on the fifth lap. On the 7th lap, 7 more riders caught up to the leading pair, including Trape. More riders caught up to the group over the next 2 laps, ballooning to over 40 by the 10th lap, at which point Trape and Viktor Kapitonov broke away from the pack. At the end of the 11th lap, Kapitonov sprinted for the finish, thinking it was the final lap, while Trape stayed right on his tail, and remained with him through the final lap, but Kapitonov still had enough left for another surge at the end for a split-second victory. The next 39 riders finished 20 seconds later, a very solid gap for cycling.

Trape turned pro the next year, and won his very first race, but soon afterward broke his femur in a crash, which derailed his career. He made a comeback, and once took 2nd place in a race, but by 1966 he was retired from racing. Even though his Olympic career was short, he led his team to a dominant victory in his first race, and came within a hair of winning another gold by a solid margin just days later, and that is enough to make him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.