Daniele Bennati

Nevertheless, he accumulated a number of good finishes: 5th in a stage of Tirreno–Adriatico and 28th at Milan–San Remo.

His first important result was in Gent–Wevelgem, where he outsprinted Thor Hushovd and Fabian Cancellara for 3rd place, behind the breakaway of Nico Mattan and Juan Antonio Flecha.

He tested positive for Betamethasone after the race, but was only handed a warning by the Italian Cycling Federation.

A few weeks later, Bennati won the Giro di Toscana.

He did not compete in the Giro d'Italia – where Lampre concentrated on the overall victory with Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego – nor did he ride the Tour de France.

In August, he won three stages and the points jersey in the Tour of Germany, and had good placings in important races such as the Grand Prix de Plouay (4th), the Coppa Placci (5th), and the Giro di Romagna (2nd).

September brought two more stage victories in the Tour of Poland.

At the season's close, Bennati was ranked 28th in the UCI Pro Tour standings, and had become a rider to watch.

During the off-season, Bennati's team changed its secondary sponsor, becoming, and signed another promising Italian sprinter, Danilo Napolitano, setting up a competition for the top sprinter's spot on the team.

Daniele Bennati (born 24 September 1980) is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the, , , , , , and squads.

Specialising in fast sprint finishes, Bennati turned professional in 2002, when he joined the team and wore zebra stripes as part of Mario Cipollini's leadout train.

Bennati soon showed an ability to sprint of his own: in March 2002, he finished second in a stage of the Settimana internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, behind Alessandro Petacchi.

He took his first victory in June at the Tour of Austria, and he took another one two months later at the Regio-Tour.

He was an important part of Cipollini's leadout train, alongside Guido Trenti, Mario Scirea, Martin Derganc and Giovanni Lombardi, helping Cipollini to some of his fourteen victories that year.

When Cipollini dropped out of the Vuelta a España, Bennati received his team's support and managed his first strong result in a Grand Tour sprint stage, 5th at the stage twelve finishing in Burgos.

A few days later, he dropped out of the race too.

In 2003, Bennati stayed with the same team, although it had changed sponsors and was now called.

As his stature grew, Bennati was seen at Cipollini's side in his favorite Italian races.

In the Grand Tours, Cipollini followed his usual practice of dropping out when the road went up, which gave Bennati a chance to race for himself – he was second to Alessandro Petacchi in one of the stages of the Giro d'Italia.

His two wins for the year came in stages of the Tour Méditerranéen (in February) and in the Tour of Poland (in September).

At the end of 2003, Bennati signed a contract with the team.

However, his year in the Swiss team was spoiled by a virus that forced him to drop out of Tirreno–Adriatico, and was followed by a recovery of several months.

He did not get any victories during that season.

Upon joining the team in 2005, he demonstrated the ability to win on his own, and continued to do so when he joined in 2008.

Bennati has won 11 stages in Grand Tours: two in the Tour de France, three in the Giro d'Italia, and six in the Vuelta a España.

In 2005, he signed a contract with the Italian team, which then merged with to form , a larger team that designed to compete in the UCI ProTour.

At Lampre, Bennati grew from a promising domestique into a top sprinter.

This transition was not instantaneous: early in 2005, he finished sprints behind both his old leader Cipollini, and teammate Giosuè Bonomi.

Bennati started the 2006 season with two second places in the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi (behind Alessandro Petacchi, who had taken over Cipollini's mantle as the dominant Italian sprinter), and then took his first win of the season in February's Volta a la Communitat Valenciana, four seconds ahead of the peloton, led home by Napolitano.

In March, Bennati was due to be the team's leader for the important races.

He probably was not at his best form when he started the Tour of Flanders, and he had to drop out.

He was then unable to start the Gent–Wevelgem race.

He won the points jersey in the 2007 Vuelta a España, and the Giro d'Italia.

Thanks to these results, he was chosen for the Italian national team that competed in the UCI Road World Championships in Madrid, but the team leader, Paolo Bettini, finished only 13th.

He retired at the end of the 2019 season, citing back pain.

Bennati was born in Arezzo, Tuscany, into a family of cyclists.

His father did well as an amateur, and his brother raced as a junior.

Bennati entered and won his first race at the age of 9.

As an amateur he raced in the Grassi Mapei team, and won a stage of the Giro delle Regioni.

At the age of 21, Bennati turned professional and joined the team of the successful Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini.