My brother Italo was 13 years older than me. For me he was an example to follow and it was precisely by being close to him that a passion was born that will accompany me throughout my life, that of cycling.
Italo was a very strong cyclocross rider and for me he was a source of inspiration. Thanks to him I entered the world of competition. I had a great desire to run and compete on the competition fields. For this reason, in September 1960, when I still didn’t have the membership card to run, I asked my cousin Stefano to sign up for a race and lend me his membership card to run in his place. I then officially made my debut among the rookies in 1961 and since then I have never left the racing circuit.
The feeling with my brother then moved from the racing fields to the streets of the center of Milan, our city, where together we opened the first Guerciotti bicycle shop. It was 1964, in a surface area of just 20m2 in via Petrella.
The first years of activity were not easy. I remember that at 12.30 I left the shop to go and help my parents in the historic I TRI BASEI restaurant, in the Ortica area, where I served tables as a waiter. The same scene was repeated in the evening, where I showed up again at 7.45pm for the evening tour of duty. At TRI BASEI there was also a garden with a bowls game, where in the early 1960s I enjoyed winning endless competitions against the elderly people of the neighborhood.
My sporting career grew in parallel with the shop: in the 1970s we moved to a new, larger location. In 1975 the new shop windows are in via Tamagno, after a quick move to Corso Buenos Aires. Not only cyclocross in the shop: in 1976 our racing bicycles arrived in the world of professionalism.
At the end of the 70s I had to combine work with training as a runner. I remember when, in 1977, in order not to take time away from the shop, I left at 12, with two ham sandwiches in my stomach, to go to train in Brianza, and then return to Milan at 3pm.
Competitive activity remained fundamental even after my retirement from competitions. I am proud to have never abandoned racing: first as a sponsor and then by founding the Guerciotti team, which wrote the history of Italian cyclocross. In the early 1980s the challenge moved to the commercial sector. With Italo’s support we managed to position the Guerciotti brand on the international market, finding success especially in the USA.
I have always conceived the company as a large family, reconciling work and passion for sport with love for my children. In 1984, during one of the editions of the Milan fair, Micaela and Alessandro aged 7 and 9 showed up at our stand with Renato Pozzetto, a famous Italian actor. They had seen him walking through the aisles of the pavilion and had approached him asking him to come to our exhibition area to see the Guerciotti bikes, underlining that I would probably give him one as a gift.
In summary, if I could speak to young Paolo today, I would say thank you. Thank you for having had the courage to take on a “grown-up” job when he was little more than a kid, for giving substance to his dreams and letting himself be carried away by ambitions. For having had the strength to face the hard moments, because there were some, and for always getting back up, ready to resume his “pedaling” stronger than ever. And I would also tell him not to worry, because he will leave his creation in the safest hands, those of his children, who share his commitment, passion and enthusiasm.