Cesare Cipollini

Cyclist Cesare Cipollini, older brother of Mario Cipollini, was a professional rider from 1978-90. Cesare also had a successful amateur career, winning eight races in his first year, when he was an independent rider without a team. That same year, 1976, he was part of the Italian pursuit team alongside Giuseppe Saronni, Rino De Candido, and Sandro Callari that set a world record of 4:24.000 for the 4km at Milano’s Palazzetto dello sport, taking the record from West Germany.

Cipollini was a member of the team pursuit at the Montréal Olympics before the age of 18. The Italian team could not repeat their world record performance and was eliminated in the quarter-finals. In 1977 Cipollini won the Firenze-Viareggio and the Giro delle Tre Provincie, important road race classics in the youth category.

Before he was 21 Cipollini turned professional. He had a great talent, and among the many results achieved in his career the highlight was his sprint victory in the 1983 Giro dell’Emilia ahead of his compatriot Daniele Caroli and the Norwegian Dag Erik Pedersen. Cipollini raced with teams like Magniflex, Fam Cucine, Dromedario, Selle Italia, Fanini, Gis gelati, Del Tongo and, finally in 1990, Italbonifica. In February 2019 he underwent a heart transplant in Bologna. In August 2023, while on holiday on the Tuscan coast, Cipollini fell ill and died at Livorno’s hospital.