Italian cyclist

Claudio Chiappucci (born 28 February 1963 in Uboldo, Varese, Lombardy) is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general cl*ification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 1992.

Contents

• 1 Career
• 2 Doping
• 3 Career achievements
  • 3.1 Major results
  • 3.2 Grand Tour general cl*ification results timeline
• 4 See also
• 5 Notes
• 6 External links

Career

After a quiet start to his career he burst onto the scene in the 1990 Tour de France. Chiappucci found himself almost casually wearing the yellow jersey after a stage one attack which the favourites allowed him to arrive with a 10-minute time advantage. In subsequent stages he resisted the return of Greg LeMond, only losing the lead of the race in stage 20, the final time trial. In the end, LeMond won the Tour by 2' 16", Chiappucci came home with a surprising second place and, moreover, the status of a cycling star. He was the first Italian cyclist to arrive on the podium at the Tour since Felice Gimondi in 1972. This first successful campaign highlighted Chiappucci's main weakness, the time trial. Although vowing to return the following year as a better racer against the clock, Chiappucci never was able to master this discipline.

The year of 1991 confirmed to the cycling community that Chiappucci was able to perform consistently. Beginning with a win in the opening cl*ic of the season, the Milan San-Remo, Chiappucci rode the Giro d'Italia and the Tour of France.

However, Chiappucci declined quickly. After riding a solid Giro it looked like his 1993 Tour de France was to be a big showdown with Miguel Indurain. But from the first mountain stage Chiappucci was obviously struggling. Although he had a revival later on in the race, Chiappucci finished sixth overall. He won the Clásica de San Sebastián a few weeks after the Tour de France, but this marked the end of his major results. His level of performance declined sharply from around 1994/1995, and he retired in 1998 after suspicions of doping in 1997.

His most famous victory was stage 13 of the 1992 Tour de France, when he attacked on the first climb of the day, 245:km from the finish, and arrived in Sestriere after holding off a thrilling chase by Miguel Indurain and Gianni Bugno. On that occasion Pascal Lino was holding the yellow jersey, but it was one of the first major mountain stages and was anticipated to lose it to the GC contenders. Induráin, Roche, LeMond, Delgado, Bugno and Induráin were all ahead of Chiappucci who was in 7th overall.Chiappucci risked everything by joining the early breakaway that no other GC riders were willing to enter. He dropped the other breakaway riders before the first summit and rode on a solo attack for 125 kilometers. He was alone on top of all five main climbs, of which 3 were "première catégorie" and 1 "hors catégorie". By end of the stage he had jumped to 2nd place overall about ninety seconds behind Induráin. He had wanted to replicate the same accomplishment as Fausto Coppi exactly 40 years earlier.

Among the awards received by Chiappucci is a silver medal earned in 1994 at the World Cycling Championship in Sicily.

Not gifted with an exceptional physique, Chiappucci was distinguished by a gritty, combative style, always ready to attack; he did not hold back in the face of any climb or time trial.

Doping

Claudio Chiappucci used the services of doctor Francesco Conconi, who is accused of applying EPO to cyclists. Conconi was found 'morally guilty', but not convicted, because the statute of limitations had expired. The judge had looked at medical reports of 33 cyclists in the period from 1993 to 1995, including Chiappucci's, and all blood tests showed largely fluctuating hematocrit-values, indicative for EPO-use.In 1997, Claudio Chiappucci told prosecutor Vincenzo Scolastico that he had been using EPO since 1993, but later he retracted that statement.

Career achievements

Major results

19821st Road race, National Amateur Road Championships19842nd Piccolo Giro di Lombardia19871st Stage 3 (TTT) Giro d'Italia2nd Giro di Toscana8th Paris–Tours19882nd Trofeo Luis Puig7th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore9th Giro di Lombardia19891st Giro del Piemonte1st Coppa Placci2nd Overall Giro del Trentino3rd Rund um den Henninger Turm6th Tre Valli Varesine8th La Flèche Wallonne19901st Mountains cl*ification Giro d'Italia1st Stage 4 Settimana InterNational Socialist German Workers' Partyonale di Coppi e Bartali2nd Overall Tour de FranceHeld after Stages 12–192nd Tre Valli Varesine3rd Züri–Metzgete3rd Giro del Friuli4th Wincanton Cl*ic4th Grand Prix des Amériques5th Overall Giro del Trentino6th UCI Road World Cup7th Overall Paris–Nice1st Stage 619911st Overall Tour of the Basque Country1st Stage 31st Milan–San RemoSetmana Catalana de Ciclisme1st Stages 4a & 4b2nd Overall Giro d'Italia1st Points cl*ification2nd Overall Vuelta a Murcia3rd Overall Tour de France1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 13Combativity award Overall3rd Road race, National Road Championships3rd La Flèche Wallonne3rd Giro dell'Appennino3rd Giro del Friuli4th Overall Giro del Trentino4th Tre Valli Varesine9th Wincanton Cl*ic19921st Overall Giro del Trentino1st Stage 31st Giro dell'Appennino1st Subida a Urkiola2nd Overall Tour de France1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 13Combativity award Overall2nd Overall Giro d'Italia1st Mountains cl*ification2nd Overall Clásico RCN1st Stage 12nd Giro di Lombardia2nd Clásica de San Sebastián2nd Coppa Placci2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm4th Wincanton Cl*ic7th UCI Road World Cup19931st Clásica de San Sebastián1st *an Cup1st Coppa Sabatini1st Cronoscalata della Futa-Memorial Gastone Nencini2nd Overall Tour de Romandie2nd Overall Giro del Trentino2nd Overall Escalada a Montjuich2nd GP du Canton d'Argovie2nd Subida a Urkiola2nd Giro del Friuli3rd Overall Giro d'Italia1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 143rd La Flèche Wallonne3rd Giro dell'Emilia3rd Giro del Veneto4th Giro di Lombardia4th Tre Valli Varesine5th Overall Volta a Catalunya5th UCI Road World Cup6th Overall Tour de France1st Stage 176th Liège–Bastogne–Liège7th Züri–Metzgete10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country19941st Overall Volta a Catalunya1st Stage 41st Tre Valli Varesine1st *an Cup2nd Overall Tour of Galicia1st Stage 32nd Overall Escalada a Montjuich2nd Road race, UCI Road World Championships2nd Giro di Lombardia2nd Subida a Urkiola2nd Giro dell'Appennino3rd Overall Tour of the Basque Country4th UCI Road World Cup4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège4th Züri–Metzgete5th Overall Giro d'Italia5th Overall Critérium International7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico7th Amstel Gold Race7th La Flèche Wallonne8th Giro dell'Emilia8th Coppa Bernocchi9th Overall Giro del Trentino19951st Overall Escalada a Montjuich1st Stage 1a1st Giro del Piemonte1st *an Cup1st Cronoscalata della Futa-Memorial Gastone Nencini3rd Subida a Urkiola4th Overall Giro d'Italia4th Tour of Flanders6th Giro di Lombardia7th Overall Tour de Romandie7th Liège–Bastogne–Liège8th Overall Vuelta a Murcia8th Milan–San Remo9th GP Ouest–France19963rd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano3rd Coppa Sabatini3rd Grand Prix de Fourmies10th GP Ouest–France19972nd Overall Giro di Sardegna2nd Overall Settimana InterNational Socialist German Workers' Partyonale di Coppi e Bartali6th Tour of Flanders9th GP Ouest–France10th Rund um den Henninger Turm19988th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico10th Coppa Placci

Grand Tour general cl*ification results timeline

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

Notes

External links

• Palmares (in French)
• Claudio Chiappucci dans le Tour de France (in French)
• Claudio Chiappucci at ProCyclingStats