Maurizio Fondriest Photo Gallery
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Maurizio Fondriest (born January 15, 1965) became World Road Cycling Champion at Ronse, Belgium, in only his second year as a professional.
That 1988 world road championship came down a final sprint between Steve Bauer, Claude Criquielion and Fondriest. Criquielion tried to go between Bauer and the barriers and crashed, slowing Bauer and allowing Frondriest to zip by and become World Champion. Bauer was disqualified and Criquielion had to walk across the finish line with his destroyed bike. Criquielion later sued Bauer, but the judge threw out the lawsuit.
Fondriest had a real talent for single-day and shorter stage races, but an eighth place in the 1993 Giro d'Italia was the best he could do in a Grand Tour. His best year was 1993 when he won 25 races. He was also quite capable against the clock. He won the stage 1B time trial in the 1993 Giro d'Italia, beating the master of the chrono, Miguel Indurain, as well as his rival from their amateur days, Gianni Bugno.
But it must be noted that in other years, even without winning he consistently placed highly in important races (he was second in Milano–San Remo in 1988 and 1995), allowing him to win the World Cup in 1991 (a year he won no major race) and 1993.
Since retiring from professional racing in 1988 he has concentrated on his eponymous bike company.
BikeRaceInfo is grateful to Gianluca Caliari of Albabici, American distributor of Fondriest's bikes in the U.S. and Cicli Fondriest for allowing us to use many of the photos in this gallery.
Major victories:
1988: World Road Championship
1989: Coppa Sabatini, Giro di Toscana
1990: Coppa Agostoni, Giro del Lazio
1991: World Cup
1992: Trofeo Melinda
1993: World Cup, Milano-San Remo, Flèche Wallonne, Championship of Zurich, Ardennes Weekend, Giro dell'Emilia, Firenze-Pistoia, Midi Libre (winning also points and climber classifications), Tirreno-Adriatico, Giro del Trentino. Total of 25 professional victories in 1993
1994: Giro del Lazio, Coppa Sabatini, Tour of Britain, Tour of Poland (also winning sprint classification)
Professional Teams:
1987: Ecoflam-BFB-Mareco
1988: Alfa Lum-Ecoflam
1989-1990: Del Tongo
1991-1992: Panasonic-Sportlife
1993: Lampre-Polti
1994-1995: Lampre-Panaria
1996: Roslotto-ZG Mobili
1997-1998: Cofidis
Photos:
Rookie Maurizio Fondriest in the 1987 Giro d'Italia
Another shot from the 1987 Giro d'Italia.
Fondriest races the Giro dell'Emilia.
Maurizio Fondriest wins the World Championships in 1988.
Fondriest wins the 1989 Giro di Toscana
Laurent Fignon outsprints Fondriest to win stage 20 of the 1989 Giro d'Italia
...and his other big win in 1989, Coppa Sabatini
Fondriest with cycling legend Alfredo Martini
1989: Fondriest endorses the apples of Val di Non.
Fondriest wins the 1993 Milano-San Remo
Fondriest enjoys his 1993 Milano-San Remo victory.
Muarizio Fondriest racing in the 1993 Amstel Gold Race, won by Rolf Jaermann.
Fondriest win the stage 1B time trial of the 1993 Giro d'Italia.
Fondriest wins the 1993 Flèche Wallonne.
1993 Giro dell'Emilia: Fondriest wins in front of Pascal Richard and Claudio Chiappucci.
Fondriest rode for Lampre from 1993 to 1995
Fondriest leads in the 1995 Milano-San Remo. That should be Laurent Jalabert on his wheel.
1995 Milano-San Remo. Fondriest leads Jalabert. Jalabert won, Fondriest was second that year.
Here Jalabert beats Fondriest in the 1995 Milano-San Remo sprint.
Maurizio Fondriest wins stage 7 of the 1995 Giro d'Italia in front of Tony Rominger and Francesco Casagrande.
Another shot of the same sprint in the 1995 Giro.
Fondriest was fourth in the Olympic time trial (won by Indurain) in the 1996 Atlanta games.
At the start of the 2013 Trofeo Melinda: Ivan Basso talks with Fondriest.
Maurizio Fondriest in 2013 with a TF-Zero Fondriest, a top-of-the-line bike