Newsgroup: it.sport.ciclismo
Titolo: The Little Pantaniana (Wrap Up) Fabiana Luperini

How is it that the shortest, lighest, smallest rider probably in the history
of women's cycling has become not only one of the greatest of all times, top
3, and in my book, only 2nd to Longo, but also the greatest climber of all
times in my book? L'Equipe did marvel at her legs in an old article saying
its amazing that such power could come out of such a small pair of legs!
Can you imagine, how many riders like Edita, and a few others spent nearly
their whole lives to achieve such a dream? Fabiana was born almost riding
the bike as a toddler, and fulfilled her dreams in her early 20's, and
nearly eclipsed the records books and then some at a very young age. Having
raced against all the great women over the years and beat all of them at one
time or another, she has also had the opportunity to beat todays women too,
although in the smaller races, but nevertheless, a win is a win! I think her
career is complete, full circle, dreams accomplished. When Fabiana was never
a track rider, she was a good all around rider, climber, sprinter. She never
won the worlds or the Olympics, but she has always said she was not well
suited to those races, as her specialty was climbing. Even so, so massed an
incredible amount of race victories from the grand tours to the classics.
Most impressive has to be Faby's 4 Giro wins in her native Italy, but maybe
not far behind is her 4 Giro Del Trentinos. Also I can help but think her 6
time victories of Vaujany in Tour De Feminin. I mean everytime she races
that stage, it must be a huge personal challenge to win it! I think Fleche
Wallonne must be a good benchmark of her abilities for the post Luperini
era. She won that 3 times, and the end is brutal, but she won solo, and
didn't look remarkably spend like Cooke has been in the last three, but
rather well composed at the end. Certainly Mur de Huy and Assisi have been
the test of a great climber and Luperini has proved it time and again.
I am sure Tour de l'Aude in 1998 was something she was very happy about
winning, but perhaps now her 3rd National title this year will be cherished
with her 4 Giros and 3 TDF's, and of course her 3 Fleche Wallone victories.
This is someone who was Queen of the Mountains some 55 times, 35 Maglia Rosa
and 26 yellow jerseys! I can imagine she desperately would of wanted that
world championship jersey, but the same can be said for so many great riders
today who still have failed to obtain the elusive rainbow colors.
Perhaps one of my favorite races was a stage in the Giro where Faby crashed,
and bloodied, she managed to get back on her bike, gain her composure, and
pass the riders one by one, climbing to victory! That's a take from Hinault,
great show of what a true champion is made of.
How about in 97, Stage 9 (Agordo) 91km, Luperini attacked on Rolle pass
climbing to Valles pass riding solo to Agordo to win the Michela Fanini
trophy, who died in a tragic car crash. Then on stage 10, Forgaria to Mt.
Zoncolan, again dominated in grand fashion on the climbs to finally destroy
the morale and all hope of her rivals.
Probably nothing could be more spectacular then winning stage 5 in front of
her hometown fans on Mount Serra must be like the greatest dream in the
whole world! Imagine if the Olympics came to your home town for an event,
and you were the favorite to win the gold, and you did! No such grander
dream could be imagined! Luperini was born in Pontedra, and to start the
fifth stage here is quite fitting! Stage 5, Pontedra to Mount Serra, 106km
must of been surreal, mythical, subliminal for Fabiani. Faby has been seen
many times climbing Mount Serra and lives near the base of the Mountain. I
had heard that she climbs it as much as three times a week! I have a friend
who has seen Faby many times going the other way on Mount Serra as he
climbs, so being no stranger to the mountain, her heart and soul must of
been revealed this day on Mount Serra!
Attacking 9km from the finish, she arrived alone at the finish line to huge
crowds of hometown fans cheering wildly and throwing graffiti onto the road
as Faby crosses the finish line in which can only be said to be a dream of a
Hollywood movie! Faby throws her hands up in the air with the most
perplexing expression on her face as if to say, Wow! What magic and glory
has fallen on me this day! Her fan club president Rolando is running
cheering and this is when the famous photographs were taken for the
magazines that day, and it was the cover of 1998 Giro video, with all the
paper graffiti flying all over the place and the whole atmosphere is just so
enchanting! This is surely it would seem Faby's greatest day in history!
A female Bartali?
Bartali, Merckx and Coppi rolled up all into one?
In fact the Giro is in July which used to be as much as 15 stages, and then
as little as a couple of weeks later the women had to race the Grande Boucle
in August, the two hottest months of the year. How many women could do both
of these killer stage races back to back like that, let along win them?
That's a total of 30 stages or more and Luperini won both the Giro and the
Grande Boucle back to back three years in a row!
Now that's impressive!
Happy Birthday Fabiana!
Long live and prosper Fabiana Luperini, and may you have many happy
birthdays to come!!
Bruce

GoneBeforeMyTime wrote:
Pantanina...not Pantaniana...
-- 
http://modesta.biciticino.ch
Il sito dedicato alla giovane ciclista lituana Modesta Vzesniauskaite

 Pantanina...not Pantaniana...
To tell the truth, there is a lot more than that to be proofread.
Sergio
Pisa

 wrote in message
news:1168935935.7...@11g2000cwr.googlegroups.com...

Perhaps, I was growing a bit tired, but as long as you did understand most
of it, then I didn't need to finesse it!
Best,
Bruce