Giuseppe Saronni


Giuseppe Saronni, also known as Beppe Saronni, is an Italian former racing cyclist. He had remarkable success riding in the Giro d'Italia. In 1980 he won 7 stages and finished 7th overall, in 1981 he won 3 stages and finished 3rd overall. In 1979 and 1983 he would win the Giro d'Italia and all total for his career win 24 stages in this race.
Saronni currently works an advisor for UCI WorldTeam.

Career

Born in Novara, Piedmont, Saronni turned professional in 1977. During his career, that lasted until 1989, he won 193 races. In Italy he gave birth to a famous rivalry with Francesco Moser, like those of Alfredo Binda with Learco Guerra, and Fausto Coppi with Gino Bartali. He competed in the team pursuit event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
In 1982 he won the World Cycling Championship at Goodwood, England, beating American Greg LeMond and Irishman Sean Kelly. His final sprint was so impressive that it gained him the nickname of La fucilata di Goodwood - "the gunshot of Goodwood". The previous year he had won a silver medal, as he had been overcome in the final by Freddy Maertens of Belgium. In 1982 Saronni also won the Giro di Lombardia.
At the beginning of 1983 another a striking attack on the Poggio climb gave him the Milan–San Remo classic, after three consecutive second places in that race. This was Saronni's last great classics victory.

Career achievements

Major results

;1977
;1978
;1979
;1980
;1981
;1982
;1983
;1984
;1985
;1986
;1988

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour1978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990
Giro d'Italia51736116152DNF277545
Tour de France—————————DNF———
Vuelta a España—————DNFDNF————DNFDNF

—Did not compete
DNFDid not finish