- Giovanni Lombardi
Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Giovanni Lombardi
fullname = Giovanni Lombardi
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1969|7|20
country = ITA
currentteam = Retired
discipline = Road and track
role = Rider
ridertype = Sprinter
amateuryears =
amateurteams =
proyears = 1992-1994
1995-1996
1997-2001
2002
2003-2004
2005-2006
proteams = Lampre
Polti
Telekom
Acqua e Sapone
Domina Vacanze
Team CSC
majorwins = Olympics Points Race, 1992 Giro d'Italia, 4 stages Vuelta a España, 3 stages
updated = January 14, 2007Giovanni Lombardi (born July 20, 1969) is an Italian former professional road bicycling racer who raced from 1992 to 2006. He started his career as a sprinter, winning multiple stages in the
Giro d'Italia . He went on to ride as an important helper for the top sprinter names ofErik Zabel andMario Cipollini . Most recently, he rode forTeam CSC as a helper forIvan Basso . Lombardi was also an active track racer during wintertime, and has participated in many six-day races, frequently as a partner ofMarco Villa .Biography
Lombardi was born in
Pavia (Lombardy ). In 1992 he became a pro with the Lampre team. Lombardi's speciality is the bunch sprint, which he already proved in his early pro-years. Among other wins, he won a stage in the 1993 Midi Libre and the year after two stages in bothTour de Suisse andVuelta a Murcia . He also came in second in three different stages of theGiro d'Italia during his years at Lampre.In 1995, his first year of service in the Polti team, he finally won a Giro d'Italia stage, as well as another stage win in Tour de Suisse. A year later he yet again won a stage in the Giro, as well as one in
Ronde van Nederland .Despite his victories, Lombardi still stood in the shadow of the great sprinters of his generation, such as Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini. For this reason Lombardi chose to cash in on his talent by relocating to Telekom in 1997. Here his job was to prepare the sprint for Erik Zabel, by guiding Zabel through the
peloton . In his first year in the team, he missed out on the peak of the cycling season,Tour de France , as the team wanted to ride forJan Ullrich 's chances in the general classement. During his time at Telekom, however, Lombardi gathered a healthy list of honours, including stage triumphs inVolta a Catalunya ,Österreich Rundfahrt ,Bicicleta Vasca andTirreno-Adriatico , as well as a stage in the 1998Vuelta a España , Ronde van Nederland,Vuelta a Burgos andDanmark Rundt .In 2002, Lombardi returned to his native country, to drive in the service of Cipollini at the
Acqua e Sapone andDomina Vacanze teams. Beside working hard in the last kilometres of the races for Cipollini, Lombardi himself still won stages in the Giro (two times), the Vuelta,Tour de Romandie andVuelta a Aragon .Before the 2005 season, he left Cipollini and went to the Danish Team CSC. Lombardi became the only rider of the peloton to participate and complete all three grand tours of the 2005 season, riding the Giro and Tour de France for team captain Ivan Basso as well as the Vuelta for
Carlos Sastre . He now uses his great experience of towing Zabel and Cipollini around the peloton to keep Basso in the right place and avoid crashes for his captain.Wins
;1992:Olympics Points Race
;1993:Stage 1,
Midi Libre :Stage 1 and Stage 4,Hofbräu Cup ;1994:Stage 2 and Stage 10,
Tour de Suisse :Stage 1 and Stage 3,Vuelta a Murcia ;1995:Stage 22,
Giro d'Italia :Stage 7, Tour de Suisse;1996:Stage 3, Giro d'Italia:Stage 3,
Ronde van Nederland :Stage 4,Giro di Puglia :Stage 2,Giro di Calabria ;1997:Stage 4,
Tirreno-Adriatico :Stage 6, Ronde van Nederland:Stage 1,Bicicleta Vasca :Stage 2 and Stage 5,Danmark Rundt ;1998:Stage 7,
Vuelta a España :Stage 6, Tirreno-Adriatico;1999:Stage 4, Bicicleta Vasca:Stage 4,
Regio Tour :Stage 3,Österreich Rundfahrt ;2000:Stage 5 and Stage 6,
Volta a Catalunya :Stage 3,Vuelta a Burgos :Stage 1, Bicicleta Vasca:Stage 5,Vuelta a Aragon :Stage 1 and Stage 7, Österreich Rundfahrt;2002:Stage 6, Giro d'Italia:Stage 13, Vuelta a España:Stage 1 and Stage 3,
Tour de Romandie :Stage 5, Vuelta a Aragon:Stage 3,Tour Méditerranéen ;2003:Stage 20, Giro d'Italia
External links
* [http://www.team-csc.com/person_profiles.asp?p_id=75 Official Team CSC profile]
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