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Paolo Bettini

Paolo Bettini
Paolo Bettini profile.jpg
Paolo Bettini in 2007
Personal information
Full name Paolo Bettini
Nickname Grillo
Born (1974-04-01) 1 April 1974 (age 43)
Cecina, Italy
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 58 kg (128 lb; 9.1 st)
Team information
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Classics specialist/Sprinter
Professional team(s)
1997 MG-Technogym
1998 Asics
1999–2002 Mapei-Quick Step
2003–2008 Quick Step
Major wins

Grand Tours

Tour de France
1 individual stage
Giro d'Italia
Points Classification (2005, 2006)
2 individual stages
Vuelta a España
5 individual stages

Stage races

Tirreno–Adriatico (2004)

One-day races and Classics

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

Other

UCI Road World Cup (2002, 2003, 2004)
Velo d'Or (2006)

Grand Tours

Stage races

One-day races and Classics

Other

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.

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.

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.


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