Mario Cipollini

Mario Cipollini (born 22 March 1967), often abbreviated to "Cipo", is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance (his first pro win came in 1988, his last in 2005; 170 professional wins, 192 including criteriums), and his colourful personality.

His nicknames include Il Re Leone (The Lion King) and Super Mario.

He is regarded as having been the best sprinter of his generation.

Some of his memorable kits include a muscle suit, zebra, and tiger prints, and a techno-skinsuit inspired by the 1982 film Tron.

Mario was a prolific winner in his youth career, scoring a total of 125 victories in age group and amateur races before joining the professional peloton in 1989.

The red jerseys of his team, featuring team-mates such as Paolo Fornaciari, Giuseppe Calcaterra, Gian Matteo Fagnini and Mario Scirea, were commonly seen at the front of the peloton toward the end of the flat Grand Tour stages in the late 1990s.

The train kept the pace high in the closing kilometers, to dissuade opposing riders from attacking and to ensure that in the final 200–300 meters, Cipollini was the only cyclist able to maintain the speed.

This changed the way teams approached mass sprints and bred a new generation of sprinters, such as fellow Italian Alessandro Petacchi.

He has also found success in Belgium, winning Gent–Wevelgem in 1992, 1993 and 2002 (record).

At the peak of his career, Cipollini's speed was unrivaled, and he is credited with being the first rider with a sprint train.

In the 1999 Tour de France, he led the peloton on the fastest stage in the history of the Tour, averaging more than 50 km/h over 194.5 km.

In the same Tour, he won 4 stages in a row, setting the post-World War II record for consecutive stage wins.

Off the course, Cipollini and his Saeco squad dressed as ancient Romans during a rest day at the 1999 Tour de France, to celebrate Julius Caesar's birthday and to commemorate Cipollini's record fourth consecutive Tour de France stage win.

He was fined for wearing an all-yellow outfit while leading the Tour de France; this practice to wear more yellow and even have a yellow bike has since become generally accepted.

These antics violated UCI regulations, which resulted in Cipollini and his team being fined thousands of Swiss francs.

The muscle suit fetched 100 million lira (US$43,710) in a charity auction, nearly 100 times the fine.

Some organisers, especially Jean-Marie Leblanc of the Tour de France, took offence at his hijinks and he wasn't invited to race in the Tour from 2000 to 2003, despite being the world champion in 2003.

His career highlights include the Road World Championships and Milan–San Remo in 2002, and 42 stages in the Giro d'Italia.

He also won 12 stages in the Tour de France and three stages in the Vuelta a España.

Cipollini was born in San Giusto di Compito, surrounded by the mountains of Capannori south of Lucca, Tuscany.

He came from a cycling family – his father, Vivaldo, had been a successful amateur racer in his youth, whilst his brother Cesare had raced as a professional and his sister Tiziana had also competed as a cyclist.

The beginning of 2002 saw Cipollini win Milan–San Remo with his new Acqua-Sapone team, and later Gent–Wevelgem.

However, a falling-out with the organizers of the Tour de France made him announce his retirement.

Italian national coach Franco Ballerini convinced him to return to competition, and built the Italian national team around Cipollini for the 2002 UCI Road World Championships.

Cipollini won the rainbow jersey in a sprint finish in Zolder, Belgium.

In the 2003 Giro d'Italia, Cipollini focused on Alfredo Binda's record 41 Giro stage wins while in the world champion's jersey.

His attempt was almost derailed by Alessandro Petacchi of the Fassa Bortolo team.

After many failed attempts, he finally broke the record, although he had to abandon the next stage due to injuries in a crash on a rain-soaked finish.

He said that the crash ended his career.

His team, Domina Vacanze-Elitron, was left out of the Tour de France that year, prompting a comment from Cipollini that the organisers disrespected the rainbow jersey.

When he retired from the 2004 Giro due to another crash, it was the only time he entered the Giro without winning a single stage.

After having vowed to retire several times in his career, usually in a public fit of pique, Cipollini finally made good on his promise on 26 April 2005, one week before the start of the 2005 Giro.

His swan song was to participate in a ceremonial prologue of the Giro wearing a fluorescent pink skin suit, which listed his 42-stage wins.

In 2008, he returned to competitive cycling with the Rock Racing team at the Tour of California.

Cipollini emerged from retirement in early 2008, with Rock Racing.

His first race back was the 2008 Tour of California, and he finished third on stage 2.

On the eve of the Milan–San Remo, he announced that he would retire again, citing disagreements over his leadership role on Rock Racing.

Cipollini made no secret that he did not like climbing stages, and while he completed all stages of the Giro on many occasions, he infuriated purists by not attempting mountain stages at the Tour or Vuelta.

While this is a common practice with sprinters without points jersey aspirations so as to save themselves for the rest of the season, Cipollini's practice of releasing photos of himself lounging at the beach while the others struggled in the mountains earned him more than his fair share of attention in this regard.

Cipollini also became famous for extravagant clothing, especially racing uniforms, sporting custom-made skin suits.