Mapei (cycling team)
Encyclopedia
Mapei was an Italian based road bicycle racing
Road bicycle racing
Road bicycle racing is a bicycle racing sport held on roads, using racing bicycles. The term "road racing" is usually applied to events where competing riders start simultaneously with the winner being the first to the line at the end of the course .Historically, the most...

 team active from 1993 to 2002, named after sponsoring firm Mapei
Mapei
MAPEI is an Italian company founded in 1937 by Rodolfo Squinzi in Milan, Italy. It evolved from a small wall paint producer into a worldwide producer of adhesives, thinsets and sealants for buildings ....

. From 2003 Mapei dropped the sponsorate, and a new team was built on top of the old with the name of Quick Step-Davitamon.

Mapei was one of the strongest teams during the late 1990s, and ranked as the strongest UCI
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....

 team in 1994-2000 and 2002.

The team had the great Belgian and Italian classic specialists of the 1990s such as Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....

, Michele Bartoli
Michele Bartoli
Michele Bartoli is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. He was a single-day race specialist, winning three of the five Monument races. Bartoli won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998.-Biography:...

, Andrea Tafi
Andrea Tafi (cyclist)
Andrea Tafi is an Italian former road bicycle racer who retired from his professional career in 2005. Tafi's propensity to perform best in the harder races earned him the nickname Il Gladiatore ....

, Franco Ballerini
Franco Ballerini
Franco Ballerini was an Italian road racing cyclist.Born in Florence, his greatest exploits as a rider came with his two victories in the cycling classic Paris–Roubaix, riding for the Mapei cycling team. In 1993 he was beaten on the line by Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle in an exciting Paris–Roubaix finale...

, and had Patrick Lefevre as directeur sportif and then manager. The team won Paris–Roubaix five times. Three times (1996, 1998 and 1999) the team even won the first three places. In the 1996 edition, the sprint for the line was decided 15 km from the finish. Directeur sportif Patrick Lefevere who was following the race in the team car talked with the owner of Mapei, Giorgio Squinzi, in Milan who said that Museeuw was to win the race. Gianluca Bortolami was second while Andrea Tafi was third. In 1998 Franco Ballerini
Franco Ballerini
Franco Ballerini was an Italian road racing cyclist.Born in Florence, his greatest exploits as a rider came with his two victories in the cycling classic Paris–Roubaix, riding for the Mapei cycling team. In 1993 he was beaten on the line by Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle in an exciting Paris–Roubaix finale...

 won the race with over four minutes ahead of his two teammates Tafi and Wilfried Peeters
Wilfried Peeters
Wilfried Peeters is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. Nowadays, he is sportif director of the Quick Step team. During his cycling-career, he was a major help for Johan Museeuw in classics such as the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris–Roubaix.- Major victories...

. and in 1999 Tafi won with an advantage of two minutes over teammates Peeters and Tom Steels
Tom Steels
Tom Steels is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer, specialising in sprint finishes and one-day races...

. In the summer of 2000, Lefevre announced that the Belgian part of the Mapei team would be leaving the team to form a new team called Domo-Farm Frites which had Museeuw as team captain. As a result, there was a great rivalry between the two teams.

Mapei was less dominating in the Grand Tours
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...

. The only true stage race specialist was Tony Rominger
Tony Rominger
Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother...

, who won the 1994 Vuelta a España
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...

 and the 1995 Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

 for the team. As Rominger focused on the Tour de France in 1996, Abraham Olano was given the leadership role at the Giro d'Italia in 1996. Olano took the maglia rosa but lost it in the mountains and during the Tour, Rominger lost time in the mountains. The team never played a major role in the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

.

The official names of the team changed with the cosponsors several times. The team has run under the following names: Mapei (1993) Mapei-Clas (1994), Mapei-GB (1995–1997), Mapei-Bricobi (1998), Mapei-Quickstep (1999–2002).

Short history

While started in 1993 (taking the Eldor-Viner team midseason), the Mapei team already became an international top team one year later when it merged with the Spanish Clas-Cajastur for the 1994 season. Clas had been a cycling sponsor since the 1988 Clas-Razesa team, led by José Manuel Fuente Lavandera. Among the Clas-riders who joined the Italian Mapei team were Fernando Escartín
Fernando Escartín
Fernando Escartín Coti is a Spanish former road racing cyclist. He won a stage and finished third overall in the 1999 Tour de France.He was born in Biescas, Aragon.- Major achievements :Tour de France record* 1992: 45th overall...

, Abraham Olano
Ábraham Olano
Abraham Olano Manzano is a Spanish Basque former professional road racing cyclist. His crowning achievement came in 1995 when he became World Road Champion...

 and, most prominently, Swiss top rider Tony Rominger
Tony Rominger
Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother...

. Other newly signed riders included Franco Ballerini
Franco Ballerini
Franco Ballerini was an Italian road racing cyclist.Born in Florence, his greatest exploits as a rider came with his two victories in the cycling classic Paris–Roubaix, riding for the Mapei cycling team. In 1993 he was beaten on the line by Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle in an exciting Paris–Roubaix finale...

, Gianluca Bortolami
Gianluca Bortolami
Gianluca Bortolami is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Bortolami's greatest feats was capturing the monumental classic Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2001 and winning the 1994 UCI Road World Cup season championship....

, Andrea Tafi
Andrea Tafi (cyclist)
Andrea Tafi is an Italian former road bicycle racer who retired from his professional career in 2005. Tafi's propensity to perform best in the harder races earned him the nickname Il Gladiatore ....

 and Mauro Gianetti
Mauro Gianetti
Mauro Gianetti is a Swiss directeur sportif, and a former rider in professional road bicycle racing. Gianetti is employed as team manager for the cycling team....

, forming a Spanish-Italian top team with two strong Swiss riders as well.

Already in 1995, Clas stopped sponsoring, being repliced by GB. GB had previously sponsored the Italian MG-Maglificio
MG-Maglificio
MG Maglificio was an Italian professional road cycling team in the 1990s. The team started racing in 1992, under the management of Belgians Roger de Vlaeminck and Patrick Lefevere and Italians Enrico Paoloni and Paolo Abetoni...

 team, which has had succes in the early ninetees in part due to a Flemish influence. Along with the new sponsor came team manager Patrick Lefevere
Patrick Lefévère
Patrick Lefevere is the Belgian cycling team manager of the Quick Step-Innergetic cycling team. He is from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of the north. He was a professional racer from 1976 to 1979, winning Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and the fourth stage in the Vuelta a España, both in 1978...

 and top rider Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....

, marking the beginning of the Belgian influence of the successful Mapei team in the following years, although the team would always have some strong Spanish riders. Another new rider in 1995 was Frank Vandenbroucke
Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist)
Frank Vandenbroucke , was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist. He was the great hope of Belgian cycling in the 1990s but a remarkable talent which appeared in his adolescence in athletics and then in cycle racing dissipated in a succession of drugs problems, rows with teams, suicide...

, who joined from the Lotto
Lotto Sport Italia
Lotto Sport Italia is an Italian sports apparel manufacturer. Its products are now distributed in more than 60 countries.-History:Lotto was established in 1973 by the Caberlotto family in Montebelluna, northern Italy, the world centre of footwear manufacturing. In June 1973, Lotto made its debut...

 team.

In the remainder of the 1990s Mapei would celebrate many major succeses, usually in the one day classics.

Results

1993 - Mapei-BC Azzuro-Viner
(3 victories, UCI rank 21)
Team manager: Fabrizio Fabbri
    • Stefano Della Santa
      Stefano Della Santa
      Stefano Della Santa is an Italian former road bicycle racer.-Achievements:1993...

      : Trofeo Melinda
      Trofeo Melinda
      Trofeo Melinda is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It was created after the disappearance of Giro dell'Umbria, held between 1910 and 1991.-Winners:...


1994 - Mapei-Clas
(58 victories, UCI rank 1)
Team managers: Waldemaro Bartolozzi, Juan Fernández Martín, Fabrizio Fabbri, Jesús Suárez Cueva
    • Gianluca Bortolami
      Gianluca Bortolami
      Gianluca Bortolami is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Bortolami's greatest feats was capturing the monumental classic Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2001 and winning the 1994 UCI Road World Cup season championship....

      : Züri-Metzgete, UCI Road World Cup.
    • Tony Rominger
      Tony Rominger
      Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother...

      : Vuelta a España
      1994 Vuelta a España
      The 49th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 25 to May 15, 1994. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of 3531 km, and was won by Tony Rominger of the cycling team.Tony Rominger, winner of the past two editions, was once...

      , Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco, Paris–Nice, One Hour World Record
      Hour record
      The hour record for bicycles is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle. There are several records. The most famous is for upright bicycles meeting the requirements of the Union Cycliste Internationale . It is one of the most prestigious in cycling...

      .

1995 - Mapei-GB
(81 victories, UCI rank 1)
Team managers: Fabrizio Fabbri, Juan Fernández Martín, Patrick Lefevere, Jesús Suárez Cueva
    • Tony Rominger
      Tony Rominger
      Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother...

      : Giro d'Italia
      1995 Giro d'Italia
      The 1995 Giro d'Italia of cycling, the 78th edition of the race, was held from 13 May to 4 June 1995, consisting of 22 stages. It covered a total of 3,736 km, completed at an average speed of 38,26 km/h...

      , Tour de Romandie
      Tour de Romandie
      The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling....

    • Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....

      : Ronde van Vlaanderen, Züri-Metzgete, UCI Road World Cup.
    • Franco Ballerini
      Franco Ballerini
      Franco Ballerini was an Italian road racing cyclist.Born in Florence, his greatest exploits as a rider came with his two victories in the cycling classic Paris–Roubaix, riding for the Mapei cycling team. In 1993 he was beaten on the line by Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle in an exciting Paris–Roubaix finale...

      : Paris–Roubaix, Omloop Het Volk
    • Abraham Olano
      Ábraham Olano
      Abraham Olano Manzano is a Spanish Basque former professional road racing cyclist. His crowning achievement came in 1995 when he became World Road Champion...

      : World Road Race Champion.

1996 - Mapei-GB
(82 victories, UCI rank 1)
Team managers: Juan Fernández Martín, Patrick Lefevere, Jesús Suárez Cueva
    • Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....

      : Paris–Roubaix, UCI Road World Cup, World Road Race Champion.
    • Andrea Tafi
      Andrea Tafi (cyclist)
      Andrea Tafi is an Italian former road bicycle racer who retired from his professional career in 2005. Tafi's propensity to perform best in the harder races earned him the nickname Il Gladiatore ....

      : Giro di Lombardia, Paris–Brussels, Giro del Lazio
      Giro del Lazio
      The Giro del Lazio is a semi classic European bicycle race held in the region of Lazio, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour....

    • Abraham Olano
      Ábraham Olano
      Abraham Olano Manzano is a Spanish Basque former professional road racing cyclist. His crowning achievement came in 1995 when he became World Road Champion...

      : Tour de Romandie
      Tour de Romandie
      The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling....

    • Tom Steels
      Tom Steels
      Tom Steels is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer, specialising in sprint finishes and one-day races...

      : Gent–Wevelgem, Omloop Het Volk
    • Frank Vandenbroucke
      Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist)
      Frank Vandenbroucke , was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist. He was the great hope of Belgian cycling in the 1990s but a remarkable talent which appeared in his adolescence in athletics and then in cycle racing dissipated in a succession of drugs problems, rows with teams, suicide...

      : Österreich-Rundfahrt, GP Ouest-France
      GP Ouest-France
      Grand-Prix de Plouay Ouest-France is an elite cycle race held annually in late summer around a circuit based on the small Breton village of Plouay since 1931...

      , Tour Méditerranéen
      Tour Méditerranéen
      Tour Méditerranéen is a professional road bicycle racing event held in southern France along the Mediterranean Sea. The Tour Méditerranéen is a five-day stage race that began in 1974 and since 2005 has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event...

      , Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen

1997 - Mapei-GB
(95 victories, UCI rank 1)
Team managers: Pietro Algeri, Fabrizio Fabbri, Patrick Lefevere, Maurizio Piovani
    • Pavel Tonkov
      Pavel Tonkov
      Pavel Sergeyevich Tonkov is a former professional road racing cyclist from Russia. His talents were first showcased when winning the world junior title as part of the Soviet Union team in 1987. This alerted the world to his talents and he turned pro in 1992 with the RUSS-Baïkal team. His biggest...

      : Tour de Romandie
      Tour de Romandie
      The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling....

    • Frank Vandenbroucke
      Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist)
      Frank Vandenbroucke , was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist. He was the great hope of Belgian cycling in the 1990s but a remarkable talent which appeared in his adolescence in athletics and then in cycle racing dissipated in a succession of drugs problems, rows with teams, suicide...

      : Tour de Luxembourg
      Tour de Luxembourg
      Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.HC, the highest rating below the ProTour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale , the sport's governing body. In 2006, the Tour was part of the UCI Europe...

    • Tom Steels
      Tom Steels
      Tom Steels is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer, specialising in sprint finishes and one-day races...

      : stages in Paris–Nice (4), Tour de Suisse
      Tour de Suisse
      The Tour de Suisse is a UCI World Tour stage race held annually in June. The race debuted in 1933 and has evolved in timing, duration and sponsorship. With the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is a proving ground for the Tour de France, and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

      , Tour de Luxembourg
      Tour de Luxembourg
      Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.HC, the highest rating below the ProTour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale , the sport's governing body. In 2006, the Tour was part of the UCI Europe...

    • Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....

      : Driedaagse van De Panne, Quatre Jours de Dunkerque

1998 - Mapei-Bricobi
(68 victories, UCI rank 1)
Team managers: Pietro Algeri, Fabrizio Fabbri, Patrick Lefevere, Maurizio Piovani, Claude Criquielion
    • Franco Ballerini
      Franco Ballerini
      Franco Ballerini was an Italian road racing cyclist.Born in Florence, his greatest exploits as a rider came with his two victories in the cycling classic Paris–Roubaix, riding for the Mapei cycling team. In 1993 he was beaten on the line by Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle in an exciting Paris–Roubaix finale...

      : Paris–Roubaix
    • Oscar Camenzind
      Oscar Camenzind
      Oscar Camenzind is a former professional road racing cyclist from Switzerland. He is national road champion of 1997. In 1998 he won the World Road Championship and the Giro di Lombardia, in 2000 he won the Tour de Suisse and he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2001...

      : Giro di Lombardia, World Road Race Champion
    • Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....

      : Ronde van Vlaanderen
    • Tom Steels
      Tom Steels
      Tom Steels is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer, specialising in sprint finishes and one-day races...

      : 4 Tour de France
      1998 Tour de France
      The 1998 Tour de France, also called the Tour du Dopage , was marred by doping scandals throughout known as the Festina affair, starting with the arrest of Willy Voet, a soigneur in the French Festina team. Voet was traveling into France when he was arrested and found with large quantities of...

       stages
    • Frank Vandenbroucke
      Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist)
      Frank Vandenbroucke , was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist. He was the great hope of Belgian cycling in the 1990s but a remarkable talent which appeared in his adolescence in athletics and then in cycle racing dissipated in a succession of drugs problems, rows with teams, suicide...

      : Paris–Nice, Gent–Wevelgem

1999 - Mapei-Quick Step
(51 victories, UCI rank 1)
Team managers: Fabrizio Fabbri, Marc Sergeant, Serge Parsani
    • Andrea Tafi
      Andrea Tafi (cyclist)
      Andrea Tafi is an Italian former road bicycle racer who retired from his professional career in 2005. Tafi's propensity to perform best in the harder races earned him the nickname Il Gladiatore ....

      : Paris–Roubaix, Giro del Piemonte
      Giro del Piemonte
      The Giro del Piemonte is a semi classic European bicycle race held in the Apennine Mountains, Italy. The race first took place in 1906. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour...

    • Michele Bartoli
      Michele Bartoli
      Michele Bartoli is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. He was a single-day race specialist, winning three of the five Monument races. Bartoli won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998.-Biography:...

      : Tirreno–Adriatico, La Flèche Wallonne
      La Flèche Wallonne
      La Flèche Wallonne is a major men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Belgium.The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week between the Amstel Gold Race and Liège–Bastogne–Liège...

    • Tom Steels
      Tom Steels
      Tom Steels is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer, specialising in sprint finishes and one-day races...

      : Gent–Wevelgem, 3 Tour de France
      1999 Tour de France
      The 1999 Tour de France was the 86th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 1999. It was won by Lance Armstrong, his first of 7 consecutive wins, the most in Tour history. There were no French stage winners for the first time since the 1926 Tour de France.The 1999 edition of Tour de...

       stages

2000 - Mapei-Quick Step
(78 victories, UCI rank 1)
Team managers: Marc Sergeant, Jesús Suárez Cueva, Fabrizio Fabbri, Serge Parsani, Roberto Damiani
    • Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw
      Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....

      : Paris–Roubaix, Omloop Het Volk, Brabantse Pijl
      Brabantse Pijl
      The Brabantse Pijl is a Flanders Classics road bicycle race held annually in Flemish Brabant, Belgium. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2011, it was upgraded to a 1.HC event...

    • Paolo Bettini
      Paolo Bettini
      Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006...

      : Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    • Axel Merckx
      Axel Merckx
      Axel Merckx , is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer who retired from the sport in August 2007. Since he began his professional career in 1993, he has won an Olympic Bronze medal and competed in 8 Tours de France, finishing in 6 as the highest-placed Belgian rider...

      : 1 Giro D'Italia
      2000 Giro d'Italia
      The 2000 Giro d'Italia of cycling, the 83rd running of the race, was held from 13 May to 4 June 2000. It consisted of a prologue plus 21 stages, for a total of 3,676 km, ridden at an average speed of 37.684 km/h...

       stage
    • Andrea Tafi
      Andrea Tafi (cyclist)
      Andrea Tafi is an Italian former road bicycle racer who retired from his professional career in 2005. Tafi's propensity to perform best in the harder races earned him the nickname Il Gladiatore ....

      : Paris–Tours
    • Michele Bartoli
      Michele Bartoli
      Michele Bartoli is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. He was a single-day race specialist, winning three of the five Monument races. Bartoli won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998.-Biography:...

      : GP Ouest-France
      GP Ouest-France
      Grand-Prix de Plouay Ouest-France is an elite cycle race held annually in late summer around a circuit based on the small Breton village of Plouay since 1931...

    • Óscar Freire
      Óscar Freire
      Óscar Freire Gómez is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer, riding for the UCI ProTeam Rabobank. He is one of the top sprinters in road bicycle racing, having won the world championship a three times, equalling Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx...

      : 2 Vuelta a España
      2000 Vuelta a España
      The 55th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from August 26 to September 17, 2000. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 2,904 km, and was won by Roberto Heras of the cycling team.-External links:**...

       stages
    • Max van Heeswijk
      Max van Heeswijk
      Max Lambert Peter van Heeswijk is a Dutch retired professional road racing cyclist.- Major achievements :2000...

      : Paris–Brussels

2001 - Mapei-Quick Step
(45 victories, UCI rank 4)
Team managers: Fabrizio Fabbri, Jesús Suárez Cueva, Eric Vanderaerden, Serge Parsani, Roberto Damiani, José Anto
    • Paolo Bettini
      Paolo Bettini
      Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006...

      : Züri-Metzgete, Coppa Placci
      Coppa Placci
      The Coppa Placci is a semi classic European bicycle race held between Imola, Italy and San Marino. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour....

    • Michele Bartoli
      Michele Bartoli
      Michele Bartoli is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. He was a single-day race specialist, winning three of the five Monument races. Bartoli won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998.-Biography:...

      : Omloop Het Volk
    • Óscar Freire
      Óscar Freire
      Óscar Freire Gómez is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer, riding for the UCI ProTeam Rabobank. He is one of the top sprinters in road bicycle racing, having won the world championship a three times, equalling Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx...

      : World Road Race Champion.

2002 - Mapei-Quick Step
(94 victories, UCI rank 1)
Team managers: Fabrizio Fabbri, Eric Vanderaerden, Jesús Suárez Cueva, Serge Parsani, Roberto Damiani
    • Andrea Tafi
      Andrea Tafi (cyclist)
      Andrea Tafi is an Italian former road bicycle racer who retired from his professional career in 2005. Tafi's propensity to perform best in the harder races earned him the nickname Il Gladiatore ....

      : Ronde van Vlaanderen
    • Paolo Bettini
      Paolo Bettini
      Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006...

      : Liège–Bastogne–Liège, UCI Road World Cup, Giro del Lazio
      Giro del Lazio
      The Giro del Lazio is a semi classic European bicycle race held in the region of Lazio, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour....

      .


The Mapei Cycling team was disbanded though. The decision was announced in May. The major factor was humiliation and anger over a drugging case, one more of those scandals that continue to undermine bicycle racing.
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