Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Last October a new cycling Classic emerged combining some of the epic conditions of Paris-Roubaix with the golden age of Italian cycling’s history. In the 1950s when cycling was the king of sports in Italy due to the epic battles between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali cycling was much grittier (literally) than today’s sport. Long [...]

Italian cycling took a blow when Ivan Basso was not allowed to start the Tour de France. Since then it has been numerous second places by Lampre riders such as Commesso, Bennati, Ballan and Cunego. The traditionally strong country could not get a win. Matteo Tossato today finally got the win for Italy ahead of [...]

(Damiano Cunego will scope out the Tour course just to get a taste)
The Italian contingent looks fairly strong in a race that traditionally is not a high priority. Twenty four Italians ranging from the oldest Giovanni Lombardi at 37 years old to Ricardo Ricco at 23 years old. Paolo Savoldelli and Ivan Basso are contenders [...]

One of the most popular search terms on this site is Ivan Basso’s sister, or Elisa Basso. I don’t remember writing about Basso’s lovely sister much, so I did some research and found a good (safe for work) video to post on my site. Now, those searching for Elisa Basso will get a result [...]

Cyclingnews’ Italia Bici mini site is up and it offers some very cool insights into some Italian bike companies. The most stunning feature is the Pirana bike that was designed and built for Roberto Visentini who won the Giro D’Italia that year. Visentini who was a climber had to contend with powerful passista Francesco Moser [...]

Davide Rebellin captured the triple in 2004 by winning the Amstel Gold Race, Liege-Bastongne-Liege and Fleche Wallone. He is one of Italy’s top one-day riders and had great form going into the Olympics and the World Championships that year.

Unfortunaelty he was not on Franco Ballerini’s radar to join either team. Feeling disgruntled, he decided that [...]

Most of the 2006 itineraries are coming out for the top riders. Damiano Cunego will be riding the Clasica de Almeria in Spain on February 26th and AleJet Petacchi will be staying closer to home at the Gp Costa degli Etruschi on February 4th.
Cunego is currently training in Siracuse, Sicily trying to get some [...]

Bicirace reports that the head of Gino Bartali’s statue in Capo Berta has been stolen. Capo Berta is near a finishing climb of Milan-SanRemo and the statue has only been in place since March 20th of this year. Culprits include a yellow spikey haired kid who tried to impress the local bullies

(hmmm, the Simpsons [...]

Two names that have been in the pro peloton for years risk an early retirement or a year off of the bike. The Sony-Ericssson debacle has left these two without a contract and at this point in the off-season, not much hope on getting on a large team. Roberto Petito formerly of Fassa-Bortolo and [...]

Claudio Corti was left without a team after Lampre and Caffita sponsors went their separate ways. The longtime team manager of Saeco may be the new team manager for Barloworld, the Italian/South African Team. With this move, he may bring in Caffita as a co-sponsor and of course Cannondale bikes with which Corti has a [...]