Cycling enthusiasts have enjoyed a ride out with former world road race champion, Mario Cipollini.
Almost 150 riders cycled 115 kilometres last Sunday with the legendary Italian, who boasts 191 victories on his palmares.
The previous evening, Cipollini answered questions at a dinner attended by nearly 130 guests.
He revealed he had lost 14 kilos since beginning to train in January, and said power meter readings showed similar values to his 2003 and 2004 seasons.
He described as his ‘dream’ an opportunity to ride again in the pelotons of the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. He said he would do so for ‘passion’, without a fee, and for a chance to witness first hand the changes in cycling since his retirement, rather than to contest sprints with the likes of Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.
Cipollini decried the absence of ‘big personalities’ and machismo from the modern day peloton, and said the cyclist had become the least important member of a hierarchy headed by the UCI and followed by the race organiser.
He praised Mark Cavendish, whom he said he ‘loved’ to watch attack, and whom he believes will be without a rival for years to come.
The 2002 season spent with the Aqua & Sapone team was the best year of his life, he revealed, describing the team as one he had built around himself.
New models from the MCipollini bike company were displayed at the dinner. Cipollini described the FB1000 as ‘my bike’ and the Logos as taking carbon monocoque construction to a new level.
The project had provided inspiration after his retirement from cycling, he said, as had his appearance on the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing, an experience he joked was ‘better than the bike’.
The following day, almost 150 riders rolled out with Cipollini for a 115km ride, taking in Cheddar Gorge and the Mendip hills.
They shrugged off occasional rain and slightly windy conditions to ride alongside the 12-time Tour de France stage winner and record holder for stage wins in the Giro d’Italia (42 stages).
Winner of the 2002 Milan-San Remo, a race he described as his ‘dream’, Cipollini surprised guests at the dinner by identifying Liege-Bastogne-Liege, a race he never contested, as the one he would choose if able to compete in peak form at a final race.
All pictures by Right Place, Right Time
