We’ll wait and see…

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Sean Lloyd

Editor 

Every so often you get a character in the sporting world who is just larger than life itself, larger than the sport itself. Currently we’ll have to admit that Lance Armstrong is in this very rare pool of athletes, but there are others as well:

Ali for his greatness and banter, Tyson for his craziness, McEnroe for being a total loony and then some others such as the great Mario Cippollini. Sometimes great talent and performance is not enough. While Roger Federer is a mercurial talent in the tennis world, there is nothing to remember him by other than his talent. Same goes for Tiger Woods.

Two ultimately great sports heroes who I admire and respect, but they lack that edge that propels them to another level. I suppose in some ways Ronaldo could be seen to be playing in this league, but he’s too Hollywood and glam for it.  Beckham is too normal.

But there’s a certain talent who has been forgotten over the years and that is the Italian Stallin Mario Cippollini. Cippo can be described as one of the mos prolific sprinters the world has ever seen and one of the few people who could match his talent with a personality so outrageous that you would be awe struck by every move he would make.

Famed in his later years for wearing weirdly patterned skin tight cycling suits, Cipo is a much missed character in the road racing scene. He never used to even bother attempting the mountain stages in the Tour de France, and would simply drop out of the tour as the hills arrived.

Smoking on the bike…no big deal

Respect!

I also fondly remember the train that used to deliver Cipo to the line in the Tour de France. He would be brought to the front and protected by his team in the sprints, with the team almost flying like birds in a V-formation, and when the time was right the team would simply peel off to the sides and an explosive power would shoot through Cipo and he’d take off at such ferocity, that no one could touch him.

Here are a few more Tour de France highlights and other random things about Mario Cippollini:

• Between 1992 and 1999 he rode seven Tours De France and never completed one of them as he refuses to ride the mountains to protect his muscle shape and sprinting speed. Race director Jean-Marie LeBlanc prevented Cipo (Also known as The Lion King and Super Mario) from riding the Tour in 2001 and 2002 by banning his team.

• Dressed up as an Ancient Roman during a day off in the 1999 Tour to celebrate his record successive stage win

• Wearing a selection of sprinting suits including: muscle suit, zebra suit and another techno design suit inspired by the movie “Tron”

• Wore different colour shorts every day of the 1997 Tour, and subsequently received a fine every day

• Wore a green jersey with the word “Peace” across the chest during the 1998 prologue of a Tour in  Ireland.

• Filled his wardrobe with hundreds of suits, ties and shoes — admitting that he’d never worn most of them

• Claiming he stopped midway through a stage to “perform a sex act” on a podium girl

• Claimed “If I wasn’t a professional cyclist, I’d be a porn star” and “I want to die in an orgy”

• Used his mobile phone to call a friend midway through a stage

• Appeared next to a stripper called Cleopatra at the start of the 1999 Tour

• Rode a stage of the tour with a photo of Pamela Anderson on his handlebars

• He was arrested for training on the autostrada near his home in Lucca. He told police it was the only way he could safely get to his top speed.

I long for the days of super Mario to return! He bought such a major dose of excitement to the tour that has been hard to find again. Sure, Lance brings major attraction to the tour, but Super Mario brought an eccentricity to the sport that can only be compared to McEnroe in the tennis world.

Sean Lloyd

Editor