Maglia nera

{{Short description|Jersey awarded to the last placer at the Giro d'Italia}}

{{Infobox Sports award

| name = Maglia Nera

| image = 200px

| sport = Road Cycling

| competition = Giro d'Italia

| discipline =

| givenfor = Last overall

| english = Black jersey

| localnames = Maglia Nera {{in lang|it}}

| nickname =

| first = 1946

| number = 6

| last = 1951

| firstwinner = {{flagathlete|Luigi Malabrocca|ITA|1946}}

| mostwins = {{flagathlete|Luigi Malabrocca|ITA|1946}} (2 times)

| mostrecent = {{flagathlete|Giovanni Pinarello|ITA|1946}}

}}

The Maglia Nera was a black jersey awarded as a symbolic prize in cycling competition at the Giro d'Italia, given to the last man to finish the race. It was allocated between 1946 and 1951.{{cite web|url=http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/Primo_Piano/2008/01_Gennaio/11/numero_nero_1101.shtml |title=Giro, la Maglia nera diventa Numero nero - Gazzetta dello Sport |publisher=Gazzetta.it |accessdate=2012-08-04}}{{cite web|url=https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/giro-ditalia-and-black-jersey-when-losing-makes-you-legend |title=Giro d'Italia and The Black Jersey: When Losing Makes You a Legend! |work=ItalyMagazine|publisher=InterRail, LLC |author=Gino De Blasio|date=3 May 2013 |accessdate=29 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429213114/https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/giro-ditalia-and-black-jersey-when-losing-makes-you-legend|archive-date=29 April 2019 }} The competition for the jersey came from the time Italian soccer star Giuseppe Ticozzelli who competed in the 1926 Giro d'Italia as an independent while wearing his black jersey of the football team he played for (Casale).{{cite web|url=http://bikeraceinfo.com/giro/giro1949.html |title=1949 Giro d'Italia |work=Bike Race Info|author= Bill and Carol McGann |publisher=Dog Ear Publishing|accessdate=2012-07-10}} He completed three stages and would often take rest breaks for food, he had to drop out of the race after being run over by a car.

There was real competition to win this particular jersey. Especially noted are the struggles between Sante Carollo and Luigi Malabrocca, to see who could waste the most time. Each tried to lose more time than the other by hiding in bars, barns, and behind hedges, or even by puncturing their own wheels. In 1948 the honor was awarded to the Tuscan Aldo Bini, who according to some journalists and fans of the time, stubbornly continued the race until the end, despite a broken right hand suffered in a mass crash, and the suffering that especially in the mountain stages forced him to get off the bike and push it uphill. The special ability of the black jersey was, in addition to not being "discovered", to reach the finish directly within the maximum time.{{cite news |url=https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/2006/10/04/page_018.pdf |title=Addio a Malabrocca, grande mito della... maglia nera |language=it |date=4 October 1978 |page=18 |newspaper=l'Unità |publisher=PCI |accessdate=27 May 2012 |trans-title=Goodbye to Malabrocca, great myth of ... black jersey |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428191804/https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/2006/10/04/page_018.pdf |archive-date=28 April 2019|url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/2004/01/12/page_013.pdf |title=Addio a Sante Carolo, vinse arrivando ultimo|language=it |date=12 January 1978 |page=13 |newspaper=l'Unità |publisher=PCI |accessdate=27 May 2012 |trans-title=Farewell to Sante Carolo, he won by coming last |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428191536/https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/2004/01/12/page_013.pdf |archive-date=28 April 2019 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/1994/06/10/page_039.pdf |title=Quelli che vestivano la maglia nera|language=it |date=10 June 1994 |page=11 |newspaper=l'Unità |publisher=PCI |accessdate=27 May 2012 |trans-title=Quelli che vestivano la maglia nera |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428192228/https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/1994/06/10/page_039.pdf |archive-date=28 April 2019 }}

The term "maglia nera" was later used in other contexts to indicate the bottom club in a league, often giving it a negative connotation.

In 2008 a similar "black number" was introduced, won by Markus Eichler of Team Milram.