Editing Breaking Away (section)

==Plot==
Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are working-class friends living in the [[university town]] of [[Bloomington, Indiana]]. Now turning 19, they all graduated from high school the year before, are not sure what to do with their lives, and consider attending university unrealistic. They spend much of their time together swimming in an abandoned water-filled [[Indiana Limestone|limestone]] quarry. They sometimes [[town and gown|clash]] with the more affluent [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University]] students in their hometown, who refer to them disparagingly as "cutters," referring to the locals' common work in the [[limestone]] industry. (The term was invented for the film because the real-world pejorative "stonies" was deemed unusable for its perceived link to marijuana.)<ref>{{cite web
|title=Breaking Away
|first=Yaël
|last=Ksander
|date=February 5, 2007
|access-date=May 10, 2019
|url=https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/breaking-away/
|publisher=Indiana Public Media. Minute of Indiana History
}}</ref>

Dave is obsessed with [[road bicycle racing|competitive bicycle racing]], Italian racers in particular, because he recently won a [[Masi Bicycles|Masi]] bicycle.<ref>{{cite web |title=Retro review: recreating the 'Breaking Away' Masi bike |url=https://www.ridemedia.com.au/product/retro-review-recreating-the-breaking-away-masi-bike/ |website=Ride Media |access-date=23 March 2021 |date=31 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Behind the Scenes: Dennis Christopher Talks "Breaking Away," Part I {{!}} RKP |url=https://redkiteprayer.com/2016/08/behind-the-scenes-dennis-christopher-talks-breaking-away-part-i/ |website=redkiteprayer.com |access-date=23 March 2021}}</ref> His down-to-earth father, Ray, a former stonecutter who now operates (sometimes unethically) his own used car business, is puzzled and exasperated by his son's [[Italophilia|love of Italian]] music and culture, which Dave associates with cycling. However, his mother, Evelyn, is more understanding and prepares Italian dishes for the family, to Ray's annoyance.

Dave develops a crush on a university student named Katherine and masquerades as an Italian exchange student to romance her. One evening, he serenades "Caterina" outside her sorority house by singing [[Friedrich von Flotow]]'s aria ''[[Martha (opera)|M Apparì Tutt' Amor]]'', with Cyril providing guitar accompaniment. Her boyfriend, Rod, and his fraternity brothers beat Cyril up because they mistake him for the suitor. Cyril wants no trouble, but Mike, a former high school football quarterback, insists on tracking down Rod and starting a brawl. The university president (played by real-life President Dr. [[John W. Ryan]]) reprimands the students for their arrogance toward the "cutters" and, over the students' objections, invites the town to field a team for the annual Indiana University [[Little 500]] race.

When an Italian cycling team comes to town for an exhibition race, Dave is thrilled to compete with them. However, the Italians are annoyed by his challenge to their preordained victory and force him to crash, which disillusions him. He subsequently confesses his deception to Katherine, who is heartbroken.

Dave's friends persuade him to join them in racing the [[Little 500]]. Ray privately tells his son how, when he was a young stonecutter, he was proud to help provide the material to construct the university though he never felt welcome on campus. Later, Dave runs into Katherine, who is leaving for a job in [[Chicago]]. They patch things up.

Dave, the only skilled cyclist among his friends, rides most of the Little 500 without a break unlike the other teams, which switch riders periodically. Nonetheless, he gains a small lead, but is injured in a crash and comes in for a [[pit stop|change]]. Mike, Cyril, and Moocher take turns to the best of their ability, but the team falls behind. Finally, Dave has them tape his feet to the pedals, which commits him to finish the race himself, and makes up lost ground. On the last lap, he overtakes Rod (who is riding for the favored fraternity team) and wins.

Ray is proud of his son and takes to riding a bicycle himself for his health. Dave later enrolls at the university, where he meets a pretty French student. Soon, he is extolling to her the virtues of the [[Tour de France]] and of French cyclists.