Ottavio Bottecchia (; 1 August 1894 – 15 June 1927) was an Italian cyclist and the first Italian winner of the Tour de France. He was found injured and unconscious by a roadside and died a few days later; the exact circumstances of his accident remain a mystery. Early life Bottecchia was born as the eighth child of a poor family of nine children. He went to school for just a year, first working as a shoemaker, then as a bricklayer. His father left to find work in Germany. Bottecchia later married and had three children. Despite being a convinced socialist with anti-Fascist convictions, Bottecchia joined the Bersaglieri corps of the Italian army during the first world war. For four years he ferried messages and supplies on the Austrian front with a special folding bicycle. During the conflict he contracted malaria and also had to evade capture several times. Bottecchia endured a gas attack on 3 November 1917 after the battle of Caporetto while providing covering fire for retreating forces. Near Sequals he was captured, but escaped while being marched into captivity at night. After returning to Italian lines, he twice conducted reconnaissance sorties into Austrian-held areas, which by now included his home region of Colle Umberto. Bottecchia was later awarded a bronze medal for valor. After the end of hostilities Bottecchia moved to France in 1919 to work as a builder, which later led to insinuations that he was not Italian – slurs that were compounded by his strong regional dialect. Bottecchia's family continued to struggle with poverty, and his youngest daughter died in 1921 at the age of seven. Bottecchia returned to Italy where he took up competitive cycling. He won the Giro del Piave, the Coppa della Vittoria, and the Duca D'Aosta in 1920 and the Coppe Gallo an Osimo, the Circuito del Piave and the Giro del Friuli in 1921. Professional career Bottecchia became a professional cyclist in 1920. He was given a racing bicycle by Teodoro Carnielli, president of a cycling association, the Associazione Sportiva di Vittorio Veneto. Carnielli encouraged Bottecchia to join the Pordenone sport union. In 1923 Bottecchia placed fifth in the 11th Giro d'Italia, the highest finish by an 'isolate' (rider without a team). His position attracted the leading French rider, Henri Pélissier, who asked Bottecchia to join his professional team, Automoto-Hutchinson. Pélissier had just left the J. B. Louvet team after