Andrea Tafi

Andrea Tafi (born 7 May 1966, in Fucecchio) 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" (English: "The Gladiator").

Tafi specialised in the cobbled Spring Classics such as Paris–Roubaix, which he won in 1999, and Tour of Flanders, which he won in 2002. He won the Giro di Lombardia in 1996 and the Italian National Championship in 1998.

Career The most successful part of Tafi's career was spent with the Italian super-squad . In the 1996 edition of Paris–Roubaix, the team put four of their riders in a breakaway at the front of the race: Johan Museeuw, Gianluca Bortolami, previous year's winner Franco Ballerini, and Tafi. Ballerini had a flat and was out of the lead group, but the other three powered their way to the finish.

In 1996, Tafi won the "race of the falling leaves" Giro di Lombardia, using his strength to overcome the climbs of the race. He said that his dream was to emulate his cycling hero fellow Italian Francesco Moser, which is to win Paris–Roubaix wearing the Tricolore jersey as the Italian National Champion. He accomplished this in his win in 1999. He won Paris–Tours in a long breakaway effort in 2000, foiling the sprinters' teams. After a few lacklustre years, he again shone in the 2002 edition of the hilly, cobbled classic Tour of Flanders. Having established himself in a front breakaway with the likes of Johan Museeuw, Peter van Petegem and teammate Daniele Nardello, he made attack after attack, finally taking advantage of a moment's hesitation between the two home favourites Museeuw and van Petegem to solo to the finish for the win.

After the demise of the Mapei super-team, Tafi moved to the reformed under Bjarne Riis for the 2003 season. His time with the team in 2004 also didn't re-ignite his performance. He finally moved to the new team for his last season in 2005. Tafi ended his career at the 2005 Paris–Roubaix, before retiring from the sport.

Comeback attempt Having competed in amateur Masters races for several years, Tafi announced in October 2018 that he would seek a comeback in 2019 to race Paris–Roubaix on the twentieth anniversary of his victory. On 8 November 2018, it was reported that he had found a team to ride with and that would attempt to receive a wildcard invitation for the event. Would his comeback have been successful, he would have been 52 years old when riding the race. A collarbone fracture eventually put an end to Tafi's comeback plans.

Doping Tafi's name was on the list of doping tests published by the French Senate on 24 July 2013 that were collected during the 1998 Tour de France and found positive for EPO when retested in 2004.

Major results

1989 1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Murcia 8th Firenze–Pistoia 10th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 1st Stage 5 1990 1st Stage 2 Kellogg's Tour 3rd Overall Ruota d'Oro 6th Firenze–Pistoia 1991 1st Giro del Lazio 7th Firenze–Pistoia 1992 1st Overall Cronostaffetta 1993 9th Firenze–Pistoia 1994 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies 1st GP Citta di Rio Saliceto e Correggio 3rd Coppa Bernocchi 4th Milano–Vignola 5th Coppa Placci 1995 3rd Road race, National Road Championships 3rd GP Industria & Commercio di Prato 4th Rund um den Henninger Turm 5th Giro di Toscana 6th Giro del Lazio 9th Giro dell'Emilia 1996 1st Giro di Lombardia 1st Paris–Brussels 1st Giro del Lazio 1st Trofeo Melinda 1st Coppa Placci 2nd Tre Valli Varesine 2nd Giro del Piemonte 2nd Giro del Veneto 3rd Paris–Roubaix 4th Overall UCI Road World Cup 4th Coppa Sabatini 4th Japan Cup 5th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 6th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 8th Leeds International Classic 1997 1st Rochester International Classic 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies 1st Coppa Sabatini Tour de Langkawi 1st Stages 3 & 9 2nd Amstel Gold Race 2nd Japan Cup 3rd Overall UCI Road World Cup 3rd Paris–Brussels 5th Giro del Lazio 6th Overall Tour of Galicia 7th Giro di Lombardia 7th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 8th Trofeo Matteotti 1998

1st Giro del Lazio 1st Coppa Agostoni 1st Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 2nd Paris–Roubaix 3rd Overall UCI Road World Cup 4th Clásica de San Sebastián 4th Züri–Metzgete 4th Japan Cup 5th Overall Tour de Langkawi 1st Stage 1 (ITT) 8th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 8th Paris–Brussels 8th Giro dell'Emilia 9th Milano–Torino 10th Giro di Lombardia 1999 1st Paris–Roubaix 1st Giro del Piemonte 3rd Millemetri del Corso di Mestre 4th Firenze–Pistoia 2000 1st Paris–Tours 6th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 10th Paris–Roubaix 2001 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a Burgos 2nd Firenze–Pistoia 8th Giro della Provincia di Siracusa 2002 1st Tour of Flanders 8th Overall Tour Down Under 10th GP Ouest–France 2003 5th Paris–Roubaix