Filippo Pozzato

Filippo "Pippo" Pozzato (born 10 September 1981) is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the , , , , , , and two spells with the / teams.

A northern classics specialist, Pozzato finished in second place at both the 2009 Paris–Roubaix and the 2012 Tour of Flanders. Pozzato finished a total of 37 Monument classics, including a victory in the 2006 Milan–San Remo; he finished second in the race in 2008 as well. Pozzato also won stages at the 2004 Tour de France, the 2007 Tour de France and the 2010 Giro d'Italia, and was the winner of the 2009 Italian National Road Race Championships.

Career

Mapei–Quick-Step (2000–2002) Born in Sandrigo, Veneto, Pozzato turned professional in 2000 with the team, part of the famous classe di '81 a group of emerging young riders born in 1981 who were part of the Mapei TT3 development team, along with Fabian Cancellara, Bernhard Eisel and Alexandr Kolobnev. Pozzato took his first victories with the team at the 2002 Vuelta a Cuba, and took his first success in Europe at the Giro del Lago Maggiore the following month. Before the season was finished, Pozzato had taken eleven further victories, including four stages at the Tour de Normandie.

Fassa Bortolo (2003–2004) After Mapei ended its sponsorship in 2002 Pozzato joined Giancarlo Ferretti's team for the 2003 season. He took early-season victories at the Trofeo Laigueglia and the Giro dell'Etna, He took one further victory during the season, at the Trofeo Matteotti. before repeating his victory at the Trofeo Laigueglia. He made his first start at a Grand Tour at the Tour de France – where he was the youngest rider at the race – and won the seventh stage. He was also chosen to be part of the Italian team for the road race at the Athens Olympics – in support of team leader Paolo Bettini, who went on to win the event.

Quick Step–Innergetic (2005–2006) Personality clashes with Giancarlo Ferretti meant that Pozzato suffered poor years with , Pozzato's first victory with the team came with a win in the HEW Cyclassics, ahead of teammate Luca Paolini. with a third victory ultimately following at the Deutschland Tour, where he won the second stage.

The 2006 season saw him win the first major classic of the year Milan–San Remo after a superb ride which saw him first work for team leader Tom Boonen, but then was forced to launch his own winning attack in the finale. He was unable to defend his victory in the renamed Vattenfall Cyclassics, finishing third behind Óscar Freire and Erik Zabel. His only other victory of the 2006 season came at the Tour of Britain, where he won the third stage of the race into Sheffield, having attacked from a six-rider lead group after the final categorised climb. He moved up to third overall, a position he continued to hold at the end of the race.

Liquigas (2007–2008)

For the 2007 season, Pozzato joined the squad, and during the early part of the season, he won consecutive starts at the Tour du Haut Var, and Omloop Het Volk. Having finished third on the second stage of the Tour de France, Pozzato took his second career stage win three stages later, prevailing in the bunch sprint into Autun. Following the Tour de France, Pozzato took three further victories in the 2007 season; he won the Trofeo Matteotti in August, before winning the sixth stage of the Tour de Pologne and the Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato in September. He recorded a top-ten overall finish at Tirreno–Adriatico the following month, before finishing second at Milan–San Remo, four seconds behind race winner Fabian Cancellara. He recorded his first top-ten finish at the Tour of Flanders, finishing in sixth place, before another podium finish in the Italian National Road Race Championships with third place. After no successes at the Tour de France, Pozzato rode the Vuelta a España for the first time in his career. won the opening team time trial stage and with Pozzato crossing the finish line first, he assumed the gold jersey of race leader. He would ultimately lose the jersey to Alejandro Valverde the following day, and withdrew from the race prior to stage 19. He finished the season with two further second-place finishes at the Giro del Lazio and the Coppa Sabatini.

Team Katusha (2009–2011) In July 2008, Pozzato was announced to be joining the new for the 2009 season. Having finished second to Francesco Ginanni at February's Trofeo Laigueglia, Pozzato's first victory with came the following month at E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, winning a three-rider sprint against Tom Boonen and Maxim Iglinsky. He followed this up with a win on the opening stage of the Three Days of De Panne, and top-five finishes at the Tour of Flanders (fifth), and Paris–Roubaix (second); at the latter, Pozzato claimed that when avoiding a crash of Thor Hushovd he lost 4 or 5 seconds and the chance for victory and that race winner Boonen benefited from the slipstream of official motorcycles to augment his lead. In June, Pozzato won the Italian National Road Race Championships for the first time in his professional career, prevailing in a sprint finish of around 20 riders at the Imola Circuit. He took two further victories before the end of the season – winning August's Giro del Veneto from a four-rider group, and October's Memorial Cimurri from a larger group.

In 2010 he was accused by several riders, including Björn Leukemans, Boonen and Philippe Gilbert for his "negative tactics" during key races – the previous season, Boonen had referred to Pozzato as "The Shadow". Pozzato won a stage of the Giro d'Italia for the first time; having missed out to Matthew Goss in a bunch sprint on stage nine, Pozzato won stage twelve from a small group that had gone clear on the final climb before the finish in Porto Recanati – for Italy's first stage win of the race. He led the Italian team for the road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Australia, where he missed on a medal, ending up in fourth place in the sprint finish. Following the World Championships, Pozzato's performances over the season were criticised by his team manager Andrei Tchmil.

The following year, Pozzato was part of the lead group at Milan–San Remo; he chased down Philippe Gilbert's attack in the final , but this effected his ability to sprint at the end, ultimately finishing in fifth place. He then finished in third place overall at the Tour de Picardie in May – tied on time with second-placed Kenny Dehaes – but he would miss two months of racing action following a crash on the final stage of the Tour of Belgium. Ultimately, his only victory of the 2011 season came in October – when he took a solo victory at the Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli, some 19 seconds clear of the next closest rider.

Farnese Vini–Selle Italia (2012) In September 2011, and having been linked with both and , Pozzato signed a contract to ride with UCI Professional Continental team , later renamed as for the 2012 season. In the spring classics, Pozzato took four top-ten results – two of which where he finished as part of the lead group – with a best of second place coming at the Tour of Flanders, where he was outsprinted by home rider Tom Boonen. He then won April's GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano from a small group, but this would turn out to be his only win of an injury-blighted season. He was also suspended for three months, backdated to June, for his links to Michele Ferrari, who had been given a lifetime ban from the sport earlier in the year.

Lampre–Merida (2013–2015) Pozzato left after only one season, signing a three-year contract with from the 2013 season. The following month, he finished second at the Roma Maxima behind solo winner Blel Kadri, having celebrated what he thought was a victory on the finish line. It was not until August that Pozzato won another race, when he won the Coppa Agostoni from a group of some 20 riders; in September, he raced the GP Ouest-France and despite not being a top favourite, he won the race, becoming just the fifth Italian to do that. He also recorded high placings at the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi (third) and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal (fifth), making the Italian team for the road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Tuscany. with only two top-three results during the season – second at the Coppa Bernocchi, and third at Tre Valli Varesine.

Southeast–Venezuela (2016–2018) In December 2015, Pozzato signed a two-year contract with the Italian-based team from 2016, and expected to retire at the end of the 2017 season. He returned to the top ten placings with an eighth-place finish at Milan–San Remo, and followed this up with fourth place at Dwars door Vlaanderen. His best result of the season came at September's Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli, where he finished second to Nicola Ruffoni. The following year, he recorded his first top-ten finish at the Tour of Flanders since his runner-up finish in 2012, placing eighth. He ultimately remained with the team in 2018, before retiring from the sport at the end of the season.

Doping ban In 2012, Pozzato was banned from cycling for three months by the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) after it was found that he had worked with infamous doctor Michele Ferrari from 2005 to 2008. CONI had looked to ban him for a year but were forced to reduce it to a three months thanks to a technicality.

Major results Road Source:

1998 UCI World Junior Championships

1999 4th Road race, UCI World Junior Championships 2000 10th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie 2001 4th Giro del Mendrisiotto 8th Giro del Medio Brenta 9th Trofeo Luis Puig 9th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie 9th Paris–Bourges 2002 1st Overall Vuelta a Cuba 1st Stage 11a (ITT) 1st Duo Normand (with Evgeni Petrov) 1st Giro del Lago Maggiore 1st Tour du Lac Léman Tour de Normandie 1st Prologue, Stages 2, 3 & 5 Tour of Slovenia 1st Stages 4 & 7 Tour de l'Avenir 1st Stages 1 (ITT) & 5 1st Prologue Ytong Bohemia Tour 2nd Time trial, National Championships 5th Overall GP Erik Breukink 10th Chrono des Herbiers 2003 (5 pro wins) 1st Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stage 2 1st Trofeo Laigueglia 1st Trofeo Matteotti 1st Giro dell'Etna 1st Stage 6 (TTT) Tour Méditerranéen 2nd Road race, National Championships 2nd Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 6th Omloop Het Volk 2004 (3) 1st Overall Giro della Liguria 1st Trofeo Laigueglia 1st Stage 7 Tour de France 4th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 2005 (3) 1st HEW Cyclassics 1st Giro del Lazio 1st Stage 2 Deutschland Tour 2nd Road race, National Championships 4th Overall Ster Elektrotoer 2006 (2) 1st Milan–San Remo 3rd Overall Tour of Britain 1st Stage 3 3rd Vattenfall Cyclassics 4th Gent–Wevelgem 5th Omloop Het Volk 6th GP Ouest-France 10th Züri-Metzgete 10th Paris–Tours 2007 (6) 1st Omloop Het Volk 1st Tour du Haut Var 1st Trofeo Matteotti 1st Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 1st Stage 5 Tour de France 1st Stage 6 Tour de Pologne 3rd Trofeo Laigueglia 4th GP Ouest-France 5th Memorial Cimurri 6th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 2008 (2) 1st Overall Giro della Provincia di Grosseto 1st Stage 1 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Vuelta a España 2nd Milan–San Remo 2nd Giro del Lazio 2nd Coppa Sabatini 3rd Road race, National Championships 6th Tour of Flanders 7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 7th Trofeo Laigueglia 2009 (5) 1st Road race, National Championships 1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 1st Giro del Veneto 1st Memorial Cimurri 1st Stage 1 Three Days of De Panne 2nd Paris–Roubaix 2nd Trofeo Laigueglia 4th Paris–Tours 5th Tour of Flanders 5th Clásica de San Sebastián 2010 (1) 1st Stage 12 Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 3 (TTT) Vuelta a Burgos 3rd Giro del Piemonte 4th Road race, UCI World Championships 4th Montepaschi Strade Bianche 4th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 5th Giro del Friuli 7th Paris–Roubaix 10th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2011 (1) 1st Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 3rd Overall Tour de Picardie 5th Milan–San Remo 2012 (1) 1st GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 2nd Tour of Flanders 6th Milan–San Remo 6th Dwars door Vlaanderen 9th Gent–Wevelgem 2013 (3) 1st GP Ouest-France 1st Trofeo Laigueglia 1st Coppa Agostoni 2nd Roma Maxima 3rd Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi 5th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal 2014 2nd Coppa Bernocchi 3rd Tre Valli Varesine 2015 10th Overall Dubai Tour 2016 2nd Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 3rd Road race, National Championships 4th Dwars door Vlaanderen 5th Coppa Bernocchi 7th Overall Giro di Toscana 8th Milan–San Remo 9th Gran Piemonte 2017 8th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 8th Tour of Flanders

Grand Tour general classification results timeline Grand Tour 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Giro d'Italia — 84 — — — DNF 45 — DNF 120 — — 115 104 Tour de France 116 — 133 DNF 67 100 — — — — — 125 — — / Vuelta a España — — — — DNF — DNF — — — DNF — — —

Classics results timeline Monument 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Milan–San Remo DNF 63 —1 192 22 2956 33 30 418 31 52 Tour of Flanders DNF 109 43 13 1465 — 382 44 17 12 758 — Paris–Roubaix — — DNF 15 35 4927 DNF DNF 22 50 65 — — — Liège–Bastogne–Liège DNF DNF DNF — — — — — — — — — — — — — Giro di Lombardia — — DNF 42 19 — DNF DNF DNF DNF — — — DNF — — Classic 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad6 — —51 — 9210 DNF DNF 86 — — 57 — — Strade BiancheRace did not exist 13 — 334 — DNF DNF DNF 27 63 — — E3 Harelbeke — — — — — 3614 — 27 26 79 — 39 — — Gent–Wevelgem — DNF 524 41 13 DNF — 649 39 DNF DNF — — — Dwars door Vlaanderen — — — — — — DNF — —6 — — —4 — — Clásica de San Sebastián DNF — 52 — — —5 DNF — — 88 DNF — — — — Hamburg Cyclassics 71 5613 19 — — 64 — — 58 — — — — — Bretagne Classic — — —64 48 21 — 39 —1 — — — DNF DNF Paris–Tours — — 1410 82 424 57 — — — — — — — —

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish

Track

1998

1999