Paolo Bettini

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Paolo Bettini

Paolo Bettini in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Paolo Bettini
Nickname	Grillo
Date of birth	April 1, 1974 (1974-04-01) (age 34)
Country	Italy
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in)
Weight	58 kg (130 lb/9.1 st)
Team information
Current team	Quick Step
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist/Sprinter
Professional team(s)
1997 1998 1999–2002 2003–	MG-Technogym Asics Mapei Quick Step
Major wins
Tour de France, 1 stage Giro d'Italia, 2 stages Vuelta a España, 1 stage UCI Road World Cup (2002, 2003, 2004) World Road Race Champion (2006, 2007) Olympic Games Road Race (2004) Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2000, 2002) Züri-Metzgete (2001, 2005) Milano-Sanremo (2003) Tirreno-Adriatico (2004) Giro di Lombardia (2005, 2006) Clásica de San Sebastián (2003) HEW Cyclassics (2003)  Italy Road Race Champion (2003, 2006)
Infobox last updated on:
March 21, 2007

Paolo Bettini (born April 1, 1974) is an Italian champion road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeam Quick Step. He won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006 and 2007 World Road Race Championships. He won the UCI Road World Cup series three times in succession, in 2002, 2003 and 2004, and has also won stages of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España. He finished in 9th place at the 2000 Summer Olympics, and won a silver medal at the 2001 World Championships in Lisbon, Portugal.

He is nicknamed "Il Grillo" ("The Cricket") for his propensity to attack repeatedly, and for his sprinting style. Bettini has announced that he will retire after 2008 season.

[edit] Career

Bettini was born in Cecina, in the province of Livorno (Tuscany).

He first gained prominence by winning the prestigious classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège race for the now-defunct Mapei team in 2000 and again in 2002. In 2001 he won the Züri-Metzgete for the first time. He set the record for the most number of World Cup race wins in a single season in 2003, by winning the Milan-Sanremo, HEW Cyclassics and Clásica de San Sebastián.

[edit] Early career

Paolo Bettini in the Tour of California 2007.

Bettini started his career as a domestique to classics star Michele Bartoli. However, Bartoli's injury and Bettini's wins in several key races meant that he was given more latitude to race for himself. Bettini won the 2000 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a flat stage of the 2000 Tour de France from Agen to Dax near the Pyrenees, barely edging out the charging peloton. The next year he won the 2001 Züri-Metzgete after a few months lacking any wins. Having made his way into the winning breakaway, he beat the favorite Jan Ullrich in the finale of the race by using his acceleration to jump away from Ullrich in the sprint to the finish. His worsening feud with Bartoli culminated in the 2001 World Cycling Championship in Lisbon, Portugal, where even though he was in the final breakaway with Bartoli, the latter refused Bettini's request to lead him out in the sprint finish, thus allowing Spaniard Freire to win the race.

[edit] 2002 World Cup and race season

Having been the trusted domestique of Michele Bartoli in previous years, the 2002 season was a breakthrough season for Bettini with the departure of both Bartoli and Museeuw from the Mapei team. Bettini started his World Cup campaign with an aggressive ride in the finale of Milan-Sanremo, but he was caught in the final kilometers of the race. After his 1-2 win with Stefano Garzelli in Liège-Bastogne-Liège where both riders displayed brilliant tactical riding for their team Mapei, Paolo ran neck-to-neck against contender Johan Museeuw, who won the Paris-Roubaix in a 50-km solo breakaway, and the HEW Cyclassics. A tactical ride in Giro di Lombardia earned Bettini the World Cup.

Paolo Bettini played a strong support role in Mario Cipollini's victory in the UCI Road Cycling World Championship in Zolder, Belgium.

[edit] 2003 World Cup and race season

The 2003 World Cup series started with Bettini's daredevil ride in winning the opener Milan-Sanremo. Attacking twice in the last hills leading down to the Primavera, Bettini had the excellent help of his super-domestique Luca Paolini, who attacked down the tricky descent towards the finish.

However, injury sustained in the Gent-Wevelgem forced Bettini to miss several races until the Tour de France in July. He then followed through with a charismatic win in the HEW Cyclassics in front of Tour de France runner-up Jan Ullrich, and a win in the Clásica de San Sebastián.

Unfortunately Paolo Bettini failed to win the UCI Road Cycling World Championship despite being the overall favorite, due to a tactical mistake at the end of the race. Having established himself in the winning breakaway with Spaniard Igor Astarloa, a moment's hesitation allowed Astarloa to break away to the finish to win the race. At the end of the race Astarloa claimed that Bettini had offered him money to relinquish the win, which Astarloa said he refused. A feud ensued, and Astarloa has since attributed his comment to a misunderstanding between his Spanish and Bettini's Italian [1].

[edit] 2004 World Cup and race season

The 2004 season started well with his performance in the Milan-Sanremo, but saw an emergent Davide Rebellin win the triplet of La Flèche Wallonne (not in the World Cup), Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Amstel Gold Race. Bettini's disappointments only continue with second-place finishes in the HEW Cyclassics which he had won previously, and again in the Clásica de San Sebastián, again which he had won only last year. The points gained in Paris-Tours - usually a pure sprinters race - was enough to put him in the World Cup leader's jersey, but with the last race the Giro di Lombardia better suited to Rebellin's riding style, the World Cup was not yet safe.

However, despite the absence of Luca Paolini due to injury - which meant the loss of a native of the race circuit - Bettini managed to follow Rebellin throughout the race and control his climbing, resulting in Rebellin quitting in frustration.

Paolo's most important victory was in the 2004 Summer Olympics which saw him break away with only one other rider in the final laps and sprinting for a comfortable margin of victory. Unfortunately, he yet again failed to win the UCI Road Cycling World Championship due to a knee injury when he banged his knee against the team car at the beginning of the race.

[edit] 2005 UCI ProTour and race season

After participating in the Milan-Sanremo, Bettini had an injury-marked season start which prevented him from having any significant participation in the spring classics, and he didn't get any victories until he got two stage wins at the 2005 Giro d'Italia, where he also donned the maglia rosa for several days. After that, he didn't get any more good results until the 2005 Vuelta a España, where he beat Alessandro Petacchi in an uphill sprint in Valladolid. After that, he took part in the Cycling World Championship in Madrid, where he got into the decisive break but, once again, he could not win and did not even get a medal. However, one week later, Bettini won the Züri-Metzgete for a second time in his career. Capitalizing on his form, two weeks following Zürich he won the last classic of the season the Giro di Lombardia as well.

[edit] 2006 UCI ProTour and race season

Medal record
Paolo Bettini in the World Champion's jersey in February 2007.
Competitor for  Italy
Road bicycle racing
Olympic Games
Gold	2004 Athens	Men's road race
UCI Road World Championships
Gold	2007 Stuttgart	Elite Men's Road Race
Gold	2006 Salzburg	Elite Men's Road Race
Silver	2001 Lisbon	Elite Men's Road Race

Bettini won the 15th stage in the 2006 Giro d'Italia. Following the Giro, he became the Italian National Road Race Champion before going on to capture the world champion's jersey at the Road World Championships 2006.

When his brother Sauro died in a car accident a few days after that victory, Bettini was on the verge of abandoning professional cycling. However he changed his mind and soon afterwards won the Giro di Lombardia classic, in tears.

On March 2, 2007, Velo magazine awarded Bettini the prestigious Velo d'Or award as the best cyclist for 2006.^[1]

[edit] 2007 UCI ProTour and race season

Bettini raced in the second annual 2.HC-rated 2007 Tour of California and made it worth his while by capturing Stage 4 in a sprint finish. Then he won once again the rainbow jersey of the Elite Men's Road at Stuttgart.

[edit] Palmarès

[edit] External links

• Paolo Bettini's official website

[edit] References