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Cyclingnews' 2002 Top Ten: Part five
The 2002 Best of Cycling, as selected by the Cyclingnews team
1: Mario Cipollini
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For Cipollini, 2002 will be remembered as the season where his actions spoke as loud as his words and dress sense.
Re Leone began his incredible year by fulfilling his life-long objective, winning La Primavera - otherwise known as Milan-San Remo - a race he has tried so hard to win throughout his cycling career.
Until March 23 this year, many believed the reason behind Cipollini's lack of success in this race was that he was not able to arrive at the via Roma in a good enough position after the Poggio, an often selective climb before the descent into San Remo. However, he defeated both his doubters and his own MSR demons with a bellissima sprint victory that left Fred Rodriguez and Marcus Zberg looking fairly amateurish in his wake.
Enter stage left Gent-Wevelgem, a tough Belgian semi-Classic positioned between the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix - apparently suited more to "rouleurs" than pure sprinters. In taking out another race supposedly unsuited to his characteristics and physiology, Super Mario defied the odds and his critics twice in as many months.
Cipo first made the initial break of 21 riders, riding comfortably over the double ascension of the Kemmelberg before soloing across to the lead group of four into a block headwind. In the final kilometres, Cipollini closed down the attacks of Americans Hincapie and Rodriguez, who once again played second fiddle to the unstoppable über-sprinter from Lucca.
Then after a "should I believe this or shouldn't I retirement", Cipollini convinced Italian coach Franco Ballerini he was still the man to beat at the World Championships in Zolder; he just needed a couple of months leave to work on his tan lines.
Not only did Ballerini believe him, so did the rest of the boys in blue - and for the first time in years, the squadra azzurra worked to perfection throughout the 256 kilometre race.
Flamboyant yet gracious, Cipo was the first to thank his teammates for both a remarkable team and individual victory, sealing his name in cycling's history books and his ranking at the top of the Cyclingnews podium.
