Who thought they would ever have seen this again?  What was it he called himself?  Ah, ‘The Worlds fastest man’.  Yes, Mario Cipollini, ‘The Lion King’ is back in cycling and back with a bang.  After three years retired the forty-one-year-old great sprinter entered the Tour of California with the Rock Racing team and on the first big sprint stage of the Tour came in third behind Boonen and Haussler.  He beat out the much younger Mark Cavendish into forth spot.

That was the second stage of the tour.  The first being a little tricker, seen Cipollini come in over five minutes down on some of the pre-race favourites.  Still it’s great to see the big man back and still so good at the sprinting.  Wouldn’t it be great to see him put some of the younger and supposidly ‘in their prime’ sprinters to shame with a win.

“Cipollini’s nearly two hundred race wins caught the attention of Rock and Republic owner, Michael Ball, and the pair entered into negotiations at a Las Vegas disco during Interbike in the fall of 2007. Conversation became official with paper work prior to the start of the Tour of California. According to Cipollini, he and Ball agreed that he would compete in the top ranked criteriums that the US is so recognised for. However, one thing led to another and the team asked that he start the Tour of California.”
– Kirsten Robbins, Cycling News, February 20, 2008

May the publicity continue.  What are the odds on this team getting a wild card at the Tour.  Now that I would pay to see.

Category: Pro Road Racing » The Legend that is Mario Cipollini, Tour of California |

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