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News :: October 2005

20 October 2005

Il Campione Italiano: Paolo Bettini

Paolo Bettini (Quick-Step) rocked the house by winning the Giro di Lombardia. The 31 year-old topped off a season that included wins in the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, Züri Metzgete and Lombardia. The fuel for the fall storming of Zurich and Como was surely born in Madrid, at the World Championships.

Il Grillo has now added his name to a mythical list of riders who have won both of Italy's great classics, Milano-Sanremo and Lombardia. Remember it was Bettini who stormed to victory in 2003 on the Via Roma in Sanremo. He foiled the true sprinters, and took victory in the classic while wearing the World Cup jersey. Looking back over the list of winners who have won both monuments is breath-taking: Binda, Cinelli, Coppi, Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Gimondi, Moser and Kelly (complete list below). Bravo Bettini, Bravo!

25 Campioni (Sanremo Years & Lombardia Years):
Paolo Bettini (Ita): 2003 & 2005
Laurent Jalabert (Fra): 1995 & 1997
Sean Kelly (Ire): 1986, 1992 & 1983, 1985, 1991
Hennie Kuiper (Ned): 1985 & 1981
Francesco Moser (Ita): 1984 & 1975, 1978
Giuseppe Saronni (Ita): 1983 & 1982
Alfons de Wolf (Bel): 1981 & 1980
Felice Gimondi (Ita): 1974 & 1966, 1973
Roger De Vlaeminck (Bel): 1973, 1978, 1979 & 1974, 1976
Eddy Merckx (Bel): 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976 & 1971, 1972
Tom Simpson (GB): 1964 & 1965
Emile Daems (Bel): 1962 & 1960
Rik Van Looy (Bel): 1958 & 1959
Louison Bobet (Fra): 1951 & 1951
Fausto Coppi (Ita): 1946, 1948, 1949 & 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954
Cino Cinelli (Ita): 1943 & 1938
Gino Bartali (Ita): 1939, 1940, 1947, 1950 & 1936, 1939, 1940
Learco Guerra (Ita): 1933 & 1934
Michele Mara (Ita): 1930 & 1930
Alfredo Binda (Ita): 1929, 1931 & 1925, 1926, 1927, 1931
Giovanni Brunero (Ita): 1922, 1923 & 1924
Costante Girardengo (Ita): 1918, 1921, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1928 & 1919, 1921, 1922
Gaetano Belloni (Ita): 1917, 1920 & 1915, 1918, 1928
Henri Pelissier (Fra): 1912 & 1911, 1913
Gustave Garrigou (Fra): 1911 & 1907

Final ProTour Standings

This was the inaugural year for the ProTour. There are many questions that still remain about ProTour's validity, but no one can doubt that The Killer, Danilo Di Luca, had a great year. Di Luca laid the foundations for his ProTour lead in the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, followed by wins in the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne.

Next year there will be a slight change in the scoring for ProTour points, but overall the system and races will stay the same. We will probably see a winner for 2006 emerge from the top 5 of the 2005 standings. The riders likely to wear the final white jersey of 2006 are: The Killer, Tin-Tin, Il Grillo or Vino.

Final Top 20 ProTour Standings:
1 The Killer, Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) 229
2 Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) 171
3 Tin-Tin, Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) 151
4 Ulle, Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) 140
5 Tex, Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) 139
6 Vino, Alexander Vinokourov (T-Mobile) 136
7 LL, Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) 131
8 Il Grillo, Paolo Bettini (Quick-Step) 130
9 The J-Man, Bobby Julich (Team CSC) 130
10 George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) 129
11 Ale-Jet, Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) 128
12 Gibo Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Caffita) 111
13 The Lux, Fränk Schleck (Team CSC) 110
14 Denis Menchov (Rabobank) 109
15 Paco, Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) 107
16 Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) 100
17 Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) 99
18 Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros-Würth) 96
19 Santiago Botero (Phonak) 95
20 Oscar Freire (Rabobank) 94

Read:
ProTour and Renewal for Danilo Di Luca, 18 October
Team CSC Tops ProTour, 15 October
A Slight ProTour Change, 11 October

19 October News ...