Michele Bartoli

Michele Bartoli

Personal information
Full name	Michele Bartoli
Born	(1970-05-27) 27 May 1970 Pisa, Italy
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	65 kg (143 lb; 10.2 st)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist
Professional team(s)
1992–1995	Mercatone Uno-Medeghini-Zucchini
1996–1997	MG-Technogym
1998	Asics
1999–2001	Mapei
2002–2003	Fassa Bortolo
2004	Team CSC
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 2 stages (1994, 1998) Stage races Driedaagse van De Panne (1995, 1998) Tirreno–Adriatico (1999) One-day races and Classics National Road Race Champion (2000) Brabantse Pijl (1994, 1999) Giro dell'Emilia (1996, 2002) Tour of Flanders (1996) Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1997, 1998) Rund um den Henninger-Turm (1997) Züri-Metzgete (1998) La Flèche Wallonne (1999) GP Ouest-France (2000) Omloop Het Volk (2001) Amstel Gold Race (2002) Giro di Lombardia (2002, 2003) Milano–Torino (2002) Giro del Lazio (2003) Other UCI Road World Cup (1997, 1998)
Medal record Competitor for  Italy Road bicycle racing World Championships Bronze 1996 Lugano Elite Men's Road Race Bronze 1998 Valkenburg Elite Men's Road Race
Infobox last updated on 25 July 2007

Michele Bartoli (born 27 May 1970, in Pisa) is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. He was a single-day race specialist, winning three of the five Monument races. Bartoli won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998.

Biography

Bartoli turned professional in 1992 with Mercatone Uno-Medeghini-Zucchini and in 1995 moved to the MG-Technogym team of Giancarlo Ferretti. In 1998, Bartoli signed for Asics. In summer 1998, Bartoli joined Mapei. After the Tour de France, won by Marco Pantani, Mapei showed interest in contracting Pantani, and Asics went for another sponsor, but Bartoli left and joined Mapei from 1999 to 2001.^[1]

In 1997 and 1998, Bartoli won the UCI Road World Cup.^[2][3] From 10 October 1998 to 6 June 1999, Bartoli led the UCI Road World Rankings.^[4] During these years, Bartoli was helped by Paolo Bettini, with whom Bartoli had worked in the MG-Technogym and Asics teams. Bettini kept improving. After a crash in the 1999 Tour of Germany, Bartoli was injured and Bettini rose to prominence, winning Liège–Bastogne–Liège. From that moment, both demanded a leading role. Although they worked together at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the feud culminated in the 2001 world championship during which the two refused to collaborate, which contributed to Óscar Freire of Spain winning the world title.^[5]

Bartoli left Mapei to re-join Ferretti at Fassa Bortolo for 2002-2003. In 2004, Bartoli moved to Team CSC.^[6] In the 2004 Tour de France, Bartoli abandoned in the 18th stage, after being called back by manager Bjarne Riis from a break to protect his captain Ivan Basso.^[7] Bartoli stopped racing after completing 2004 injured.^[8] He said: "I just wasn't motivated to continue... I can't be a top level rider any more and that was a major influence on my decision, rather than my recent physical problems."^[9]

Bartoli was one of the most successful classics riders of his time.^[10] He won a variety of classics, starting with the Tour of Flanders and Omloop "Het Volk" in 1996 and 2001 respectively, and hilly races such as Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1997 and 1998, Züri-Metzgete in 1998, La Flèche Wallonne in 1999, and the Amstel Gold Race in 2002. He won the Giro di Lombardia in 2002 and 2003. He was national champion in 2000, and won short stage races such as the Tirreno–Adriatico, Tour de Reggio Calabria and Three Days of De Panne.

In the world championship he finished third in 1996 and 1998.

After-cycling career

In 2005 Bartoli gave his name to the Granfondo Michele Bartoli in the province of Lucca, with the start and finish in his hometown Montecarlo.^[11] Bartoli is, with former cyclists Francesco Casagrande and Maximilian Sciandri, instructor of the Campagnolo Passion 2 Ride.^[12]

Palmarès

References

External links

• Official website (under construction)
• Passion 2 Ride
• Palmares
• Tour de France results
• Palmares by cyclingbase.com