Monday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport had a photo of Alberto Bettiol on its front cover, celebrating his and Marta Bastianelli’s victories at the Tour of Flanders. They called Bettiol the ‘Leoncino di Fiandre’ - the little lion of Flanders. It was a respectful diminutive of the real Lion of Flanders - Fiorenzo Magni, who was the first Italian to ever win the race and who completed a rare treble in 1950, 1951 and 1952.
Thanks to Bettiol, Italy has now won the Tour of Flanders 11 times, and he is the fourth Tuscan to triumph after Magni, Bartoli (1996) and Andrea Tafi (2002).
Bettiol rides for EF Education First but he is Tuscan to the core and continues the heritage of talent to emerge from the region, albeit with an international twist. He comes from Castelfiorentino between Florence and Siena, in the heart of the Chianti hills. The roads through the vineyards and olive trees are steeper and longer than the hellingen of Flanders, but they are the perfect training roads for Classics riders.
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Tuscany is more than 1,000km south of Flanders, but like Bartali, Bartoli, Tafi, Ballerini and Bettini, Bettiol has the innate talent and bike skills for the spring Classics and hard racing.
“He was an extremely underrated rider,” EF Education First team manager Jonathan Vaughters said after the race on Sunday of his latest ‘Moneyball’ find.
“He’s an excellent racer, he knows when to save energy, he knows when to relax. He’s versatile. He can sprint a little bit. He can climb. He’s good on the stones. And he’s a really great time trialist.”
Aiming at the stars
Losing three kilogrammes
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/bettiol-i-needed-to-become-a-real-rider
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