Paolo Bettini (born 1 April 1974 in Cecina, Livorno, Tuscany) is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006 and 2007 World Road Race Championships. He is nicknamed Il Grillo ("the cricket") for his repeated sudden attacks and his sprinting style.

Paolo Bettini
Bettini in 2013
Personal information
Full namePaolo Bettini
NicknameGrillo
Born (1974-04-01) 1 April 1974 (age 50)
Cecina, Italy
Height1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight58 kg (128 lb; 9.1 st)
Team information
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeClassics specialist
Puncheur
Professional teams
1997MG Maglificio–Technogym
1998Asics–CGA
1999–2002Mapei–Quick-Step
2003–2008Quick-Step–Davitamon
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
1 individual stage (2000)
Giro d'Italia
Points classification (2005, 2006)
2 individual stages (2005, 2006)
Vuelta a España
5 individual stages (20052008)

Stage races

Tirreno–Adriatico (2004)

One-day races and Classics

Olympic Road Race (2004)
World Road Race Championships (2006, 2007)
National Road Race Championships (2003, 2006)
Liège–Bastogne–Liège (2000, 2002)
Milan–San Remo (2003)
Giro di Lombardia (2005, 2006)
Clásica de San Sebastián (2003)
HEW Cyclassics (2003)
Züri-Metzgete (2001, 2005)

Other

UCI Road World Cup (2002, 2003, 2004)
Vélo d'Or (2006)
Medal record
Men's road bicycle racing
Representing  Italy
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Road race
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2007 Stuttgart Road race
Gold medal – first place 2006 Salzburg Road race
Silver medal – second place 2001 Lisbon Road race

He gained prominence by winning Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2000 and 2002. He set the record for World Cup wins in a season in 2003, winning the Milan–San Remo, HEW Cyclassics and Clásica de San Sebastián. He won the Giro di Lombardia in 2005 and 2006, the Züri-Metzgete in 2001 and 2005 and Tirreno–Adriatico in 2004.

Career

edit

Early career

edit

Paolo Bettini lived with his family on the Tuscany coast. He began racing when he was seven and won 23 of his first 24 races.[1] His first bike had a secondhand frame which his father, Giuliano, had painted orange. The components were cannibalised from other bikes.[1] He started racing after the encouragement of his brother.[2]

He came fourth in the world under-23 road championship in 1996, behind three other Italians, Giuliano Fugeras, Roberti Sgambelluri and Luca Sironi.[3] He turned professional the following year for the MG-Technogym team. There he rode as domestique to Michele Bartoli, "a working class cyclist", wrote Stephen Farrand, "destined to work for others to earn his crust."[1] He worked for Bartoli, who in return helped with advice.[3] Bartoli won the World Cup in 1997 and 1998 with Bettini's help.

 
Bettini winning the 2001 Coppa Placci

Bartoli fell heavily on a knee in 1999 and Bettini was freed to race for himself.[4] He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2000 – treating himself to a €100,000 Porsche[1] – and a flat stage of that year's Tour de France, from Agen to Dax. He won the 2001 Züri-Metzgete after a few months without wins, beating Jan Ullrich in the sprint to the finish. His success led to a feud with Bartoli. It culminated in the 2001 world championship in Lisbon, Portugal, where Bartoli refused to lead Bettini to a flying start in the sprint finish and the Spaniard, Óscar Freire, won instead.

2002 World Cup and race season

edit

The 2002 season was a breakthrough. In the World Cup, Bettini was caught in the final kilometers of Milan–San Remo. After his 1–2 win with Stefano Garzelli in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Bettini ran neck-to-neck against Museeuw, who won Paris–Roubaix in a 50 km solo breakaway, and the HEW Cyclassics. A tactical ride in Giro di Lombardia earned Bettini the World Cup.

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

2003 World Cup and race season

edit

The 2003 World Cup series started with Milan–San Remo. Attacking twice in the last hills leading down to the Primavera, Bettini had the help of Luca Paolini, who attacked down the tricky descent towards the finish.

However, injury in the Gent–Wevelgem forced Bettini to miss several races until the Tour de France in July.[5] He then followed with a win in the HEW Cyclassics in front of Tour runner-up Jan Ullrich, and a win in the Clásica de San Sebastián.

Bettini failed to win the UCI Road Cycling World Championship despite being favorite due to a mistake at the end of the race. Having established himself in the winning breakaway, hesitation allowed the Spaniard Igor Astarloa to break away to win. Astarloa claimed that Bettini had offered him money to relinquish the win, which Astarloa said he refused. A feud ensued, and Astarloa attributed his comment to a misunderstanding of Bettini's Italian.[6]

2004 World Cup and race season

edit
 
Paolo Bettini wearing the National Champion's jersey in 2004.

The 2004 season started well with Milan–San Remo, but Davide Rebellin won the La Flèche Wallonne (not in the World Cup), Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Amstel Gold Race. Bettini's disappointments continued with second places in the HEW Cyclassics, which he had won previously, and in the Clásica de San Sebastián, which he had won the previous year. The points gained in Paris–Tours put him in the leader's jersey, but with the last race the Giro di Lombardia better suited to Rebellin, the World Cup was not yet safe. Bettini followed Rebellin throughout the race, resulting in Rebellin's quitting in frustration.

Bettini's most important victory was the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he broke away with Portuguese Sérgio Paulinho for a comfortable victory decided on a last moment sprint with both. He again failed to win the world championship due to an injury when he banged his knee against the team car at the beginning of the race.

2005 UCI ProTour and race season

edit

After Milan–San Remo, Bettini had an injury-marked start which prevented significant participation in the spring classics, and he had no victories until he got two stage wins at the 2005 Giro d'Italia, where he wore the pink jersey as leader of the general classification for several days. After that, no 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 world championship in Madrid, where he got into the decisive break but did not get a medal. A week later, he won Züri-Metzgete for a second time. Two weeks later he won the Giro di Lombardia as well.

2006 UCI ProTour and race season

edit

Bettini won the first race of the season, the Trofeo Soller, which is part of the Challenge Mallorca. He also won the Gran Premio di Lugano, two stages in the Tirreno–Adriatico and the 15th stage in the Giro d'Italia, where he won the points classification. Following the Giro he became the Italian road champion and won a stage at the Vuelta a España before winning the world championship.

His brother Sauro died in a car accident a few days after that victory and Bettini was close to abandoning cycling. He changed his mind and won the Giro di Lombardia in tears.

On 2 March 2007, the French magazine Velo awarded Bettini its Vélo d'Or as best rider of 2006.[7]

2007 UCI ProTour and race season

edit
 
Bettini at the 2007 E3 Harelbeke wearing the rainbow jersey

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. He later won the third stage of the Vuelta a España and finished second in three more stages. Then he won once again the rainbow jersey of the Elite Men's Road at Stuttgart.

2008 season

edit
 
Paolo Bettini at the 2008 Tour of California.

Bettini's start was plagued by injuries, including a fall at the Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and a rib broken when he fell on a wet descent in the Tour of the Basque Country.[8] He won the Trofeo Matteotti and stages at the Tour of Austria and Tour de Wallonie. He also won two stages at the Vuelta a España, where he said he was leaving Quick Step after 10 years due to a financial dispute.[9] On September 27 he announced his retirement.[10] On 4 November, he fell during the Milan six-day and was taken to hospital unconscious.[11]

Coaching career

edit

On 17 June 2010, Bettini was named as the new Italian national coach, following the death of Franco Ballerini in a car accident earlier that year.[12] He left this role in 2014 to work with Fernando Alonso on his new cycling team in preparation for its launch in 2015.[13]

Track racing

edit

Bettini followed the path of riders before the 1970s and took up six-day racing in the winter. He rode at Munich and Grenoble in 2006. "I didn't do it for the money", he said. "I had that already. I did it through my love of racing, to see what it's like to race on a track."[4] The bankings proved trickier than the road, however, and his debut was described as "catastrophic" as he failed to get alongside his partner in the two-man relay race, the madison, and finished the first night "with fear in his face."[4] Charly Mottet said:

I saw him at the start of the evening and he worried me. Two hours later, I can tell you, he had won the respect of the others. He was making proper changes,[14] he was taking part in the race and he was going better and better. The others couldn't believe their eyes [commencaient à ne plus voir le jour].[4]

Personal life

edit

Bettini married Monica Orlandini, a literature teacher, in 2000. They moved into a farmhouse belonging to his wife's family, who have been olive farmers for four generations.[2] They live in Riparbella, 10 km from Cecina, where Bettini was born.

Career achievements

edit

Major results

edit
1996
1st Stage 8 Giro Ciclistico d'Italia
3rd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
4th Road race, UCI Road World Under-23 Championships
9th Overall Grand Prix Guillaume Tell
1997 (1 pro win)
1st Stage 2 (TTT) Hofbrau Cup
8th Overall Tour de Langkawi
1998 (1)
1st Stage 4a Tour de Romandie
3rd Trofeo Laigueglia
3rd Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli
7th Overall Giro d'Italia
7th Overall Danmark Rundt
1st   Mountains classification
7th Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
8th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
8th Züri-Metzgete
8th Coppa Sabatini
1999 (5)
1st   Overall Giro della Provincia di Lucca
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 4 Tirreno–Adriatico
2nd Milano–Torino
3rd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
1st Stage 2
4th Züri-Metzgete
5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
6th Overall Tour of Galicia
1st Stage 1
7th GP Ouest–France
7th Giro dell'Appennino
9th Giro di Lombardia
9th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
2000 (6)
1st   Overall Memorial Cecchi Gori
1st Stages 2 & 4
1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
1st Trofeo Manacor
1st Stage 9 Tour de France
2nd Giro della Romagna
4th Clásica de San Sebastián
4th Paris–Tours
5th Coppa Placci
7th Grand Prix de Fourmies
7th Giro della Provincia di Siracusa
9th Road race, Olympic Games
9th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
10th Giro di Lombardia
10th Trofeo Pantalica
10th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
2001 (5)
1st Züri-Metzgete
1st Coppa Placci
2nd Overall Tour de Langkawi
1st   Points classification
1st Stages 3 & 11
2nd   Road race, UCI Road World Championships
3rd Coppa Sabatini
4th Overall Giro della Provincia di Lucca
1st Stage 4
5th Milan–San Remo
5th Tre Valli Varesine
5th Giro del Lazio
6th HEW Cyclassics
9th Firenze–Pistoia
2002 (10)
1st   Overall UCI Road World Cup
1st   Overall Tour de Wallonie
1st Stage 1
1st   Overall Giro Riviera Ligure Pomente
1st Stage 3 & 4
1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
1st Coppa Sabatini
1st Giro del Lazio
1st Stage 1 Tour Méditerranéen
1st Stage 3 Giro della Provincia di Lucca
2nd Züri-Metzgete
2nd Giro di Toscana
4th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 2
4th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
4th HEW Cyclassics
5th Omloop Het Volk
6th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato
7th Clásica de San Sebastián
7th Firenze–Pistoia
8th Amstel Gold Race
8th Trofeo Laigueglia
10th Coppa Placci
2003 (5)
1st   Overall UCI Road World Cup
1st   Road race, National Road Championships
1st   Overall Tour Méditerranéen
1st   Points classification
1st Milan–San Remo
1st Clásica de San Sebastián
1st HEW Cyclassics
2nd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
3rd Omloop Het Volk
3rd Züri-Metzgete
4th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
4th Trofeo Laigueglia
4th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi
4th Trofeo Alcúdia
5th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
1st   Points classification
5th Tour du Haut Var
5th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
5th Trofeo Manacor
8th Giro dell'Emilia
2004 (8)
1st   Overall UCI Road World Cup
1st   Road race, Olympic Games
1st   Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 4 & 6
1st Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
1st Stage 8 Tour de Suisse
2nd Clásica de San Sebastián
2nd HEW Cyclassics
2nd Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
2nd Züri-Metzgete
3rd Amstel Gold Race
5th Paris–Brussels
5th Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
6th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
1st Stage 2
6th Paris–Tours
8th Milan–San Remo
8th Ronde van Midden-Zeeland
9th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
1st Stage 1
9th Tour of Flanders
2005 (4)
1st Giro di Lombardia
1st Züri–Metzgete
Giro d'Italia
1st   Points classification
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 16 Vuelta a España
2nd Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli
4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
7th Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
2006 (9)
1st   Road race, UCI Road World Championships
1st   Road race, National Road Championships
1st Giro di Lombardia
1st Gran Premio di Lugano
1st Trofeo Sóller
Giro d'Italia
1st   Points classification
1st Stage 15
1st Stage 2 Vuelta a España
Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 1 & 2
2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
3rd Trofeo Pollença
3rd Trofeo Cala Millor
7th Tour of Flanders
8th Amstel Gold Race
9th Trofeo Laigueglia
9th Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
2007 (3)
1st   Road race, UCI Road World Championships
1st Stage 3 Vuelta a España
1st Stage 4 Tour of California
4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
6th Amstel Gold Race
7th Vattenfall Cyclassics
7th Firenze–Pistoia
2008 (5)
1st Trofeo Matteotti
Vuelta a España
1st Stage 6 & 12
1st Stage 1 Tour of Austria
3rd Overall Tour de Wallonie
1st Stage 2
4th Clásica de San Sebastián
9th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

edit
Grand Tour 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
  Giro d'Italia 25 7 44 DNF 38 56 41 19
  Tour de France 122 74 114 114
  Vuelta a España 32 DNF DNF DNF DNF

Classics results timeline

edit
Monument 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Milan–San Remo 70 77 40 5 50 1 8 42 75 33 102
Tour of Flanders 23 16 DNF 9 7 21
Paris–Roubaix Did not contest during his career
Liège–Bastogne–Liège 92 5 1 15 1 22 4 2 4 9
Giro di Lombardia 21 9 10 20 30 DNF 29 1 1 103
Classic 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Omloop Het Volk 5 3 DNF 90
Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 11 25 2 DNF DNF
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 4 DNF 48 24
Amstel Gold Race DNF 32 14 DNF 8 3 37 8 7
La Flèche Wallonne 50 19 20 37 DNF 41 12 DNF
Clásica de San Sebastián DNF 11 4 13 7 1 2 DNF 101 4
Hamburg Cyclassics 12 12 18 6 4 1 2 DNF 48 7
Züri-Metzgete 41 8 4 25 1 2 3 2 1 DNF Not held
GP Ouest-France 7 28
Giro dell'Emilia 8 DNF DNF
Milano–Torino 21 2 NH 88 NH
Paris–Tours 47 14 4 19 11 6

Major championships results timeline

edit
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
  Olympic Games Not held 9 Not held 1 Not held 17
  World Championships 63 9 2 26 4 DNF 13 1 1 28
  National Championships 7 15 1 11 1 DNF 27
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d Cycling Weekly, UK, May 2002
  2. ^ a b Procycling, UK, November 2001
  3. ^ a b L'Équipe, France, 10 July 2000
  4. ^ a b c d Vélo, France, December 2006
  5. ^ "www.cyclingnews.com – the world centre of cycling". Bike-zone.com. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  6. ^ "Pro Cycling News". Daily Peloton. 2003-10-13. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  7. ^ [1] Archived March 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Paulo Bettini breaks a rib in Pais Vasco crash". Velonews.com. 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  9. ^ "www.cyclingnews.com presents the 63rd Vuelta a España". Autobus.cyclingnews.com. 2008-09-21. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  10. ^ "Italian Cycling Legend Paolo Bettini Announces His Retirement After Title Defence". Bicycle.net. 2008-09-27. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  11. ^ Door: redactie 4/11/08 – 16u34 (2009-11-08). "Geen breuken voor Bettini na zware val in Zesdaagse Milaan" (in Dutch). HLN.be. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2012-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Stephen Farrand. "Bettini Confirmed As Italian National Coach". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  13. ^ Farrand, Stephen (29 May 2014). "Bettini ready for role with Fernando Alonso's team". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  14. ^ In a madison race, one rider races as the other circles the track slowly, to rest. The faster rider grabs the slower by the hand and hurls him into the race. It demands not only acrobatic skill and strength but the talent to get near the other rider in the first place, riding at 50kmh on a 250m track with up to 30 riders moving at different speeds.
edit