page_title: Michele Bartoli
section_title: 1993–1995: Mercatone Uno
hierarchical_section_title: Michele Bartoli / Career / 1993–1995: Mercatone Uno
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: PARIS-TOURS 1997
context_page_description: Michele Bartoli is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. Bartoli was a professional 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. 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.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: Bartoli won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998.
  (pictured at the 1997 Paris–Tours)
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