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Issue 100 of Rouleur is a milestone for the whole brand, and we wanted a striking cover for our loyal readers and subscribers. As part of a magazine redesign and refresh, we had extensive discussions with the editorial team and Jeremy Kunze - and weren't found wanting for options, with over 40 possibilities shared over weeks and months.
In the end, we went for this classic and classy photograph from the 1949 Tour de France. The shades, the watch, the perched casquette, the mitts - Fausto Coppi is so nonchalantly cool. I've seen a lot of images of the legend through the years, but this felt fresh and stopped us in our tracks.
Sometimes it’s the little things: I love the bar in the background and the symmetry of the bent elbows caught in the shot that would have been impossible to compose.
Related - Fausto Coppi notebook
For a cycling magazine, we’ve not dived into the archive and used retro shots on the cover as often as you might think. And it seemed right for an issue which celebrated the sport's history with a rundown of 100 memorable cycling moments. Inevitably, Coppi features highly.
He was a man who transcended sport. I'm sure a fair few debates still take place in Italy about whether he is cycling's greatest. The allure of this image is a lot less questionable.
Jacques Augendre's beautiful Fausto Coppi biography has just landed in the Rouleur shop. You can buy it here.
