# Michele Bartoli

Michele Bartoli (born 27 May 1970, in Pisa) is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. Bartoli was a professional cyclist from 1992 until 2004 and was one of the most successful single-day classics specialists of his generation, especially in the Italian and Belgian races. On his palmarès are three of the five monuments of cycling—five in total: the 1996 Tour of Flanders, the 1997 and 1998 Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the 2002 and 2003 Giro di Lombardia. He won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998. From 10 October 1998 until 6 June 1999, Bartoli was number one on the UCI Road World Rankings.
Considered one of the most versatile riders of his generation, Bartoli won a variety of classics. He won most of the major Italian one-day races—apart from Milan–San Remo—and was Italian national champion in 2000. In Belgium, he excelled in both the cobbled classics of Flanders and the hilly races in the Ardennes, which earned him the nickname Il Leoncino delle Fiandre ("The Little Lion of Flanders"). In addition to the classics, Bartoli has also won stage races, such as Tirreno–Adriatico and the Three Days of De Panne, and won two stages in the Giro d'Italia. He finished third in the world championships of 1996 and 1998.

## Career
### 1993–1995: Mercatone Uno

Bartoli joined Mercatone Uno–Medeghini–Zucchini as an amateur stagiaire in late 1992, signing his first professional contract starting in January 1993. He was competitive immediately, winning the overall and 3 stages at the first stage race he started, the 1993 Settimana Siciliana.
His breakthrough year was 1994, when he won the Brabantse Pijl, his first semi-classic win, and the thirteenth stage in the Giro d'Italia. In 1995, his star rose to prominence in the one-day classics, with fifth place in Milan–San Remo, seventh in the Tour of Flanders and third places in Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Giro di Lombardia. He won the Three Days of De Panne and placed ninth overall in the Vuelta a España.

### 1996–1997: MG–Technogym

In 1996, he joined the MG–Technogym team of manager Giancarlo Ferretti. He became a specialist of the classic races and claimed his first career monument win in the 1996 Tour of Flanders after an attack on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and a 16 km solo to the finish. In summer, he was 19th overall in the Tour de France, before winning the Italian summer classics Giro del Veneto, GP di Larciano and Giro dell'Emilia. He finished third at the World Championships in Lugano behind Johan Museeuw and Mauro Gianetti.
In 1997, Bartoli won his first Liège–Bastogne–Liège, after distancing his last breakaway companion, Laurent Jalabert, in the final kilometre. His slender build (179 cm and 65 kg), combined with his feline ability to accelerate on steep climbs, made him the quintessential contender for the hilly Ardennes classics. At the end of 1997, he won the UCI World Cup, confirming his status as the most regular classic race specialist.

### 1998: World number one with Asics

In 1998, he transferred to the Asics team and had the most successful season of his career. He won his second Liège–Bastogne–Liège, again before Laurent Jalabert, after a long solo attack. In May, he won the GP of Aargau Canton in Switzerland and the thirteenth stage in the Giro d'Italia. Later in the year, he won Züri-Metzgete, his second World Cup race of 1998, as well as the Giro di Romagna, and finished third in the World Championships in Valkenburg behind Oscar Camenzind and Peter Van Petegem. He ended the season as world number one on the UCI Road World Rankings and won his second consecutive UCI World Cup. During his years with MG and Asics, Bartoli was helped by his friend and team mate Paolo Bettini, who became Bartoli's prime lieutenant in the races.

### 1999–2001: Mapei

In 1999, Bartoli and Bettini joined Mapei, the most successful classics team of the 1990s. He won Tirreno–Adriatico, the Brabantse Pijl and the Flèche Wallonne in the spring of 1999, but failed to win a monument race. In the 1999 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Bartoli, seeking his third consecutive win, was distanced by rising star Frank Vandenbroucke and finished fourth behind his helper Bettini. In May 1999, Bartoli broke his kneecap in a crash in the Tour of Germany, which ended his season.
He returned to racing in 2000, but his Mapei team mate Paolo Bettini demanded a leading role, eventually leading to a feud between the two friends. In the summer of 2000, he won the Italian National Championship in Trieste and the Grand Prix de Plouay, before entering the Olympic road race in Sydney. Helped by his Italian team mates Bettini and Danilo Di Luca, he won the sprint for fourth place, finishing just outside the medals. He repeated his fourth place at the World championships.
In 2001, Bartoli won Omloop Het Volk early in the season, but failed to win another major spring classic. He left Mapei—exceptionally mid-season—to re-join Ferretti at the new Fassa Bortolo team. In October 2001, Bartoli and Bettini's rivalry culminated during the world championship road race during which Bartoli refused to work for Bettini. Bettini finished second in the sprint behind Spaniard Óscar Freire; Bartoli was 23rd.

### 2002–2004: Final years

With Fassa Bortolo, he re-lived some of his former successes by winning the 2002 Amstel Gold Race and the 2002 and 2003 Giro di Lombardia.
In 2004, he moved to Team CSC but failed to claim a victory. In the 2004 Tour de France, he abandoned during the 18th stage after being called back by manager Bjarne Riis from a break to protect his captain Ivan Basso. Bartoli ended his professional career at the end of the 2004 season, suffering minor injuries. He stated: "I just wasn't motivated to continue... I can't be a top-level rider any more and that was a major influence on my decision, rather than my recent physical problems."

## Retirement

In 2005 Bartoli gave his name to the Granfondo Michele Bartoli in the province of Lucca, with the start and finish in his hometown Montecarlo, Tuscany. Bartoli is, with former cyclists Francesco Casagrande and Maximilian Sciandri, instructor of the Campagnolo Passion 2 Ride.

## Doping allegations

In May 2007, Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Bartoli was linked with the Operación Puerto doping investigation into the practices of Eufemiano Fuentes. According to the report, it was alleged that Bartoli was the rider behind the nickname "Sansone". The report continued that Bartoli received two blood transfusions from Fuentes in 2003.

## Major results
### 1993

    1st Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
       1st Stages 1 & 6
    6th Coppa Bernocchi
    7th La Flèche Wallonne
    7th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
    9th Gent–Wevelgem
    9th Coppa Sabatini
    9th Trofeo Matteotti
    9th Giro del Friuli
    10th Overall Hofbrau Cup

### 1994

    1st Brabantse Pijl
    1st Grand Prix Pino Cerami
    1st Criterium d'Abruzzo
    1st Stage 14 Giro d'Italia
    2nd Giro del Veneto
    3rd Overall Vuelta a los Valles Mineros
    5th Road race, National Road Championships
    6th Giro di Toscana
    7th Overall Giro del Trentino
    9th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
    10th Paris–Brussels
    10th Giro della Romagna

### 1995

    1st Overall Three Days of De Panne
       1st Stages 1 & 2
    3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    3rd Giro di Lombardia
    5th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
    5th Milan–San Remo
    5th Grand Prix Pino Cerami
    6th Firenze–Pistoia
    7th Tour of Flanders
    8th Gran Piemonte
    9th Overall Vuelta a España
    9th Paris–Tours
    10th Amstel Gold Race

### 1996

    1st Tour of Flanders
    1st Giro dell'Emilia
    1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
    1st Giro del Veneto
    1st GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
    1st Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
    1st Stage 6 Tirreno–Adriatico
    1st Stage 1 Tour de Suisse
    2nd Züri-Metzgete
    2nd Giro della Romagna
    3rd Road race, UCI Road World Championships
    3rd Paris–Brussels
    5th Grand Prix La Marseillaise
    5th Wincanton Classic
    6th Paris–Tours
    6th Milano–Torino
    6th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
    7th Overall Étoile de Bessèges
    8th Road race, Olympic Games
    8th Coppa Sabatini
    10th Coppa Bernocchi

### 1997

    1st Overall UCI Road World Cup
    1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    1st Rund um den Henninger Turm
    1st Trofeo Laigueglia
    1st Trofeo Melinda
    2nd Overall Tour Méditerranéen
       1st Stage 5
    2nd Giro di Toscana
    3rd Grand Prix de Fourmies
    4th Giro di Lombardia
    4th La Flèche Wallonne
    4th Paris–Brussels
    4th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli
    5th Milan–San Remo
    6th Amstel Gold Race
    6th Züri-Metzgete
    7th Tour of Flanders
    8th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
       1st Stage 3
    9th Coppa Bernocchi
    10th Road race, UCI Road World Championships

### 1998

    1st Overall UCI Road World Cup
    1st Overall Three Days of De Panne
    1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    1st Züri-Metzgete
    1st Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
    1st Giro della Romagna
    1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
    1st Stage 13 Giro d'Italia
    2nd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    2nd Coppa Sabatini
    2nd HEW Cyclassics
    3rd Road race, UCI Road World Championships
    3rd Amstel Gold Race
    3rd Giro dell'Emilia
    3rd Paris–Brussels
    4th Giro di Lombardia
    5th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
       1st Stages 2 & 6
    5th La Flèche Wallonne
    5th Chrono des Nations
    6th Tour of Flanders
    8th Milan–San Remo
    8th Giro del Veneto

### 1999

    1st Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
    1st La Flèche Wallonne
    1st Brabantse Pijl
    1st Stage 3 Vuelta a Andalucía
    4th Tour of Flanders
    4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    4th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    8th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
       1st Stage 4

### 2000

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st GP Ouest-France
    1st Stage 2 Vuelta a Andalucía
    2nd Trofeo Melinda
    2nd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
    3rd Coppa Placci
    4th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
    4th Road race, Olympic Games
    5th Giro di Lombardia
    5th Giro di Romagna
    8th Giro del Veneto
    9th Overall Giro della Provincia di Lucca

### 2001

    1st Omloop Het Volk
    1st Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
    2nd Road race, National Road Championships
    5th Giro di Lombardia
    5th Classic Haribo
    7th Amstel Gold Race
    10th Paris–Nice

### 2002

    1st Overall Tour Méditerranéen
       1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 4
    1st Giro di Lombardia
    1st Amstel Gold Race
    1st Giro dell'Emilia
    1st Milano–Torino
    1st Stage 2 Giro della Provincia di Lucca
    3rd La Flèche Wallonne
    5th Trofeo Laigueglia
    6th Züri-Metzgete
    6th Coppa Sabatini
    8th Grand Prix de Fourmies

### 2003

    1st Giro di Lombardia
    1st Giro del Lazio
    2nd Overall Tour de Wallonie
       1st Stage 3
    2nd Giro del Veneto
    4th Trofeo Matteotti
    7th Giro dell'Emilia
    8th Coppa Placci

### 2004

    7th Overall Tour of Britain

### Classics results timeline

| Monument | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Milan–San Remo | 25 | — | 5 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 64 | 39 | 11 | 45 | 164 | 120 |
| Tour of Flanders | — | 41 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 96 | 15 | 55 | 16 | 57 |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 21 |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | 3 | 44 | 1 | 1 | 4 | — | 28 | 59 | 22 | 27 |
| Giro di Lombardia | 47 | — | 3 | 37 | 4 | 4 | — | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | DNF |
| Classic | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — |
| Amstel Gold Race | — | 34 | 10 | 28 | 6 | 3 | 15 | — | 7 | 1 | 16 | 15 |
| La Flèche Wallonne | 7 | — | — | — | 4 | 5 | 1 | — | 11 | 3 | 40 | 73 |
| Züri-Metzgete | — | 63 | — | 2 | 6 | 1 | — | 11 | 53 | 6 | 34 | 24 |
| Giro dell'Emilia | — | — | — | 1 | 13 | 3 | — | — | 13 | 1 | 7 | — |

### Major championships timeline

| Event | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Olympic Games | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | 8 | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | 4 | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | — |
| World Championships | — | — | — | 3 | 10 | 3 | — | 4 | 23 | — | — | — |
| National Championships | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 2 | — | — | — |