Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1996 and 2015. A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 48 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010. He also won the classics Milan – San Remo in 2005 and Paris–Tours in 2007. His career spanned over 18 years during which he earned 183 victories.
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the Grand Tours, and all three races are similar in format, being three-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in the UCI regulations: more points for the UCI World Tour are distributed in Grand Tours than in other races, and they are the only stage races allowed to last longer than 14 days, and these differ from Major stage race than one week duration.
Fassa Bortolo (2000–2005) was a professional road bicycle racing team founded in 2000 and led by Giancarlo Ferretti. Dubbed the 'Silver Team', it managed to be one of the most successful teams of the era, not in the least due to top sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. In its six competitive years, Fassa Bortolo won over 200 races, including stages in all three Grand Tours. It was one of the inaugural 20 UCI ProTour teams in 2005.
Maurizio Fondriest is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist.
ONCE cycling team, also known as Liberty Seguros, Liberty Seguros–Würth and in succession in its final year, Astana–Würth and Astana was a Spanish cycling team. It competed in the UCI ProTour circuit.
Molteni was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team from 1958 until the end of 1976. It won 663 races, many of them earned by its most famous rider, Eddy Merckx. Other riders included Gianni Motta and Marino Basso, who contributed 48 and 34 wins respectively. The Molteni family continues in cycling with sponsorship of Salmilano.
Marino Lejarreta Arrizabalaga is a retired Basque professional road racing cyclist. His biggest victory was capturing the 1982 Vuelta a España, a Grand Tour stage race, and he is the inaugural and record three-time winner of the Clásica de San Sebastián, which is now considered a one-day classic. In 1989, Lejarreta captured the Volta a Catalunya repeating one of his first professional wins in 1980 at the same event.
Giovanni Visconti is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI ProTeam Green Project–Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè.
The 1990 Giro d'Italia was the 73rd edition of the race. It started off in Bari on May 18 with a 13 km (8.1 mi) individual time trial. The race came to a close with a mass-start stage that began and ended in Milan on June 6. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by the Italian Gianni Bugno of the Château d'Ax–Salotti team. Second and third respectively were the Frenchman Charly Mottet and the Italian rider, Marco Giovannetti. Bugno wore the pink jersey as leader in the general classification from the first to the last stage.
The 1989 Giro d'Italia was the 72nd edition of the race. It started off in Taormina on 21 May with a 123 km (76.4 mi) flat stage that ended in Catania. The race concluded in Florence with a 53 km (32.9 mi) individual time trial on 11 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by the Frenchman Laurent Fignon of the Super U team. Second and third respectively were the Italian Flavio Giupponi and the American rider, Andrew Hampsten.
Mercatone Uno–Scanavino is a former professional cycling team which was based in San Marino and then in Italy. Throughout the 1990s it was one of the strongest Italian cycling teams in the peloton. The team was sponsored by a chain of supermarkets in Italy.
Dario Cataldo is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Lidl–Trek.
Carrera was an Italian-based road bicycle racing team active from 1984 to 1996, named after sponsoring Italian jeans manufacturer Carrera. The team was successful in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France with three overall wins and several wins in the Points classification and Mountain Classifications.
Dimitri Konyshev is a Soviet/Russian former road bicycle racer. Over his 17 year professional cycling career Konyshev won nine Grand Tour stages becoming one of the few riders to win a stage in all three Grand Tours. He won 4 apiece in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, and he also won a single stage in the Vuelta a Espana. Konyshev was the first Soviet and first Russian to win a medal in the Men's Road race at the UCI Road World Championships. He won a Silver medal in 1989 behind Greg LeMond and a Bronze medal in 1992 behind Gianni Bugno and Laurent Jalabert.
The 45th Edition Vuelta a España, a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 24 April to 15 May 1990. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of 3,680 km (2,287 mi), and was won by Marco Giovannetti of the Seur cycling team.
The 36th Edition Vuelta a España, a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 21 April to 10 May 1981. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of 3,446 km (2,141 mi), and was won by Giovanni Battaglin of the Inoxpran cycling team.
Gewiss–Ballan was an Italian-based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 1997, named after the Italian electrical engineering company Gewiss. The team was successful in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France as well as several classics during the early 1990s.
Gianni Bugno is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist.
Alessandro De Marchi is an Italian professional road and track bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jayco–AlUla.
