He was found injured and unconscious by a roadside and died a few days later; the exact circumstances of his accident remain a mystery.

[citation needed] Despite being a convinced socialist with anti-Fascist convictions, Bottecchia joined the Bersaglieri corps of the Italian army during the first world war.

[5] Bottecchia endured a gas attack on 3 November 1917 after the battle of Caporetto while providing covering fire for retreating forces.

After returning to Italian lines, he twice conducted reconnaissance sorties into Austrian-held areas, which by now included his home region of Colle Umberto.

[3][4] 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.

[9] He was given a racing bicycle by Teodoro Carnielli,[10] president of a cycling association, the Associazione Sportiva di Vittorio Veneto.

His position attracted the leading French rider, Henri Pélissier, who asked Bottecchia to join his professional team, Automoto-Hutchinson.

Automoto saw the chance not only of winning the Tour de France but of having a further Italian rider to stimulate foreign sales.

Henri Pélissier said he had seen Bottecchia ride the Giro di Lombardia and Milan–San Remo and the team signed him.

[13] The new recruit reported for duties with his new team in France, said the writer Pierre Chany, with a skin tanned like an old leather saddle and creases to his face deep enough to be scars.

"[14]It was as a professional that Bottecchia learned to read, taught by his friend and training partner, Alfonso Piccin.

[3] Bottecchia's success for his new team included winning a stage in the 1923 Tour de France, where he also placed second overall.

[19][20] On the day of the incident, Bottecchia had risen at dawn and asked for a hot bath to be ready for him for when he would return in three hours.

The accident theory, favoured by justice, on the accounts of witnesses and a medical examination which also referred to several fractures, was based on an assumption of an illness, sunstroke and a fall.

The theory suited everybody: the Mussolini régime, the presumed killer and even – it's sad to say – the family, now sure of a large insurance payout.

[3]Don Dantė Nigris, the priest who gave him the last rites, is said to have attributed the death to Fascists unhappy about Bottecchia's more liberal leanings.

[22] However, an Italian dying from stab wounds on a New York waterfront claimed he had been employed as a hit man.

In 1926, Bottecchia began working with frame-maker Teodoro Carnielli to manufacture racing bikes, taking advantage of his Tour de France knowledge.