Alessandro Ballan
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alessandro Ballan |
| Nickname | Bontempino |
| Date of birth | November 6, 1979 (age 27) |
| Country |  Italy |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Lampre-Fondital |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Classics specialist |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 2004-Present | Lampre-Fondital |
| Infobox last updated on: | |
| December 12, 2006 | |
Alessandro Ballan (born November 6, 1979 in Castelfranco Veneto, Veneto) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team Lampre-Fondital. Although he possesses a frame that is usually more associated with climbing, Ballan has established himself as a leading spring classics contender in recent years. His nickname, Bontempino, is a diminutive reference to Guido Bontempi, to whom he bears a resemblance.[1]
Ballan turned professional in 2004 with the Lampre team. Despite a decent amateur career, Ballan was not sought after by professional teams, and required a little bit of helps to secure a professional contract.[1] In his first season, Ballan worked as a domestique for Romans Vainsteins and Gianluca Bortolami. In 2005, Ballan was given the opportunity to aim for high placings in the spring classics and achieved a stage victory and second overall in the Three Days of De Panne[2], along with sixth place in the Ronde van Vlaanderen[3], having attacked the leading group with 37km to go. Later in the season, he achieved his first and so far only ProTour victory in taking stage 4 of the Eneco Tour of Benelux[4].
In 2006, Ballan started his spring classics campaign as a highly rated contender, given his performances in 2005 and his success in the warm-up races in winning the Trofeo Laigueglia[5], a second place to Tom Boonen in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen[6] and third overall at the Tirreno-Adriatico.[7] Ballan was a leading protagonist in the classics: he took fifth at the Ronde van Vlaanderen[8] and followed this with third at Paris-Roubaix, following the disqualifications of Peter Van Petegem, Vladimir Gusev and Leif Hoste.[9] Later in the season, Ballan further proved his talent with a second placing in stage 12 of the Tour de France[10] and a third place overall in the Tour of Poland.[11] Ballan finished in sixth place in the individual rankings of the 2006 UCI ProTour.[12]
[edit] Palmarès
- 2006 – Lampre-Fondital
- 1st, Trofeo Laigueglia
- 2nd, Stage 12, Tour de France
- 3rd, Paris-Roubaix
- 3rd, Overall, Tirreno-Adriatico
- 5th, Ronde van Vlaanderen
- 8th, Milano-Sanremo
- 9th, Stage 20, Tour de France
- 2005 – Lampre-Caffita
- 1st, Stage 1, Three Days of De Panne
- 1st, Stage 4, Eneco Tour of Benelux
[edit] References
- ^ a b Maloney, Tim. "Ballan following in Bartoli's footsteps?", Cyclingnews.com - First Edition Cycling News for April 7, 2005, 2005-04-07. Retrieved on 2006-09-27. (in English)
- ^ KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde Results (2005-03-31). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 89th Ronde van Vlaanderen Results (2005-04-03). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 1st Eneco Tour of Benelux Results (2005-08-10). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 43rd Trofeo Laigueglia Results (2006-02-14). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 49th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Results (2006-09-27). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 41st Tirreno-Adriatico Results (2006-03-14). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 90th Ronde van Vlaanderen Results (2006-04-02). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 104th Paris-Roubaix Results (2006-04-09). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 93rd Tour de France, Stage 12 Results (2006-07-14). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ 63rd Tour of Poland Results (2006-09-10). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ UCI ProTour Individual Rankings as of as of 2006-10-14 (2006-12-12). Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
[edit] External links
| Riders on Lampre-Fondital |
|---|
|
Fabio Baldato | Alessandro Ballan | Daniele Bennati | Matteo Bono | Paolo Bossoni | Marzio Bruseghin | Giampaolo Caruso | Jaime Alberto Castaneda Ortega | Claudio Corioni | Damiano Cunego | Giuliano Figueras | Paolo Fornaciari | Enrico Franzoi | Francesco Gavazzi | David Loosli | Marco Marzano | Massimiliano Mori | Danilo Napolitano | Morris Possoni | Daniele Righi | Gorazd Stangelj | Sylvester Szmyd | Paulo Tiralongo | Tadej Valjavec | Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea |
| Manager |
| Giuseppe Saronni |
