Paolo Bettini

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.

He came fourth in the world under-23 road championship in 1996, behind three other Italians, Giuliano Fugeras, Roberti Sgambelluri and Luca Sironi.

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."

He worked for Bartoli, who in return helped with advice.

Bartoli won the World Cup in 1997 and 1998 with Bettini's help.

Bartoli fell heavily on a knee in 1999 and Bettini was freed to race for himself.

He gained prominence by winning Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2000 and 2002.

He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2000 – treating himself to a €100,000 Porsche – 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He won the Giro di Lombardia in 2005 and 2006, the Züri-Metzgete in 2001 and 2005 and Tirreno–Adriatico in 2004.

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.

His first bike had a secondhand frame which his father, Giuliano, had painted orange.

The components were cannibalised from other bikes.

He started racing after the encouragement of his brother.