Francesco Casagrande

Francesco Casagrande (born 14 September 1970 in Florence) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Casagrande was a professional cyclist between 1992 and 2005.

Biography He was a proven performer in the Grand Tours and the major one-day races. He wore the leader's jersey into the penultimate stage of the 2000 Giro d'Italia, but faltered badly and wound up 2nd to fellow Italian Stefano Garzelli. Casagrande did, however, win the mountains classification, wearing the corresponding green jersey on the podium.

In major one-day races, he has won the Clásica de San Sebastián in 1998 and 1999, followed by the 2000 editions of the La Flèche Wallonne and Subida a Urkiola. Also in 1999, he placed 4th in the World Cycling Championships Road Race behind Óscar Freire, Markus Zberg, and Jean-Cyril Robin.

In his early career, Casagrande won the 1996 Tirreno–Adriatico and Tour of the Basque Country — both one-week stage races. In 1998, Casagrande tested positive for doping with testosterone during the Tour de Romandie, and consequently was fired by his team . He was originally given a six-month sentence, later extended to nine months by the UCI. He returned to racing at the 1999 Tour de Suisse, a race that he won, taking the leader's jersey away from Laurent Jalabert on stage 9. Casagrande also scored victories at the 2001 and 2002 Giro del Trentino and the 2002 Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale Coppi-Bartali. In the 2002 Giro d'Italia, Casagrande was expelled from the race, after knocking down another cyclist. In 2003, Casagrande won two mountain stages in the Tour de Suisse, but lost the leader's jersey in the penultimate day's time trial to Alexander Vinokourov. He was unable to start the last stage due to urethritis. Casagrande was barred from competing in the 2004 Vuelta a España a day before its start due to a high hematocrit level, indicating the use of erythropoietin (EPO), a popular doping product. As a consequence, the team released him from his contract, allowing him to move mid-season to . In 2005, Casagrande retired.

Major results

1991

1992 2nd Gran Premio Industrie del Marmo 1993 1st Stage 5 Giro di Puglia 2nd Tre Valli Varesine 4th Giro di Toscana 6th Overall Giro del Trentino 7th Giro della Romagna 7th Giro del Veneto 7th Giro dell'Appennino 8th Giro di Campania 10th Trofeo Melinda 1994 1st Milano–Torino 1st Giro di Toscana 1st Giro dell'Emilia 1st Firenze–Pistoia 1st GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 2nd Road race, National Road Championships 2nd Overall Vuelta a los Valles Mineros 2nd Coppa Sabatini 2nd Coppa Placci 2nd Coppa Bernocchi 2nd Trofeo Melinda 2nd Trofeo dello Scalatore 4th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 4th Trofeo Matteotti 5th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 5th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 6th La Flèche Wallonne 7th Overall Critérium International 8th Giro della Romagna 8th Monte Carlo–Alassio 10th Züri-Metzgete 1995 1st Giro dell'Appennino 1st Coppa Placci 1st Firenze–Pistoia 2nd Overall Tour de Romandie 2nd Grand Prix Pino Cerami 2nd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 3rd Overall Escalada a Montjuïc 3rd Milano–Torino 3rd Coppa Agostoni 3rd Giro della Romagna 4th La Flèche Wallonne 4th Coppa Sabatini 5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 6th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 6th Coppa Bernocchi 7th Giro di Lombardia 8th Trofeo Pantalica 10th Overall Giro d'Italia 1996

1st Stages 2 & 5b (ITT) 2nd Overall Giro di Puglia 1st Stage 3 2nd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 3rd Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 4th Overall Hofbrau Cup 4th Tre Valli Varesine 4th Coppa Agostoni 5th Milano–Torino 9th Clásica de San Sebastián 10th Trofeo Laigueglia 1997 1st Giro della Romagna 2nd Road race, National Road Championships 3rd Giro di Lombardia 3rd Trofeo Laigueglia 3rd Giro del Lazio 4th Overall Escalada a Montjuïc 4th Milan–San Remo 4th Giro dell'Appennino 4th Trofeo Matteotti 4th Coppa Placci 5th Overall Tour Méditerranéen 5th Trofeo Melinda 5th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 6th Overall Tour de France 6th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 6th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 6th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 8th Coppa Sabatini 9th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 10th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 1998 1st Clásica de San Sebastián 1st Trofeo Matteotti 1st Stage 1 Tour Méditerranéen 2nd Classique des Alpes 3rd Overall Tour de Romandie 3rd Overall Giro del Trentino 4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 4th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 5th Overall Tour de Suisse 8th Tour du Haut Var 1999

1st Stage 8 1st Clásica de San Sebastián 1st Trofeo Matteotti 2nd Giro del Veneto 2nd Giro del Lazio 2nd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 3rd Tre Valli Varesine 3rd Giro della Romagna 3rd Coppa Agostoni 3rd Coppa Placci 3rd Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 4th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 5th Giro dell'Emilia 9th Milano–Torino 2000 1st La Flèche Wallonne 1st Coppa Placci 1st Subida a Urkiola 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia

1st Stage 9 2nd Giro di Lombardia 2nd HEW Cyclassics 2nd Giro del Veneto 3rd Züri-Metzgete 3rd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 4th Giro del Lazio 5th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 9th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 10th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 10th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 10th Amstel Gold Race 2001

1st Stage 1 1st Coppa Agostoni 1st Trofeo Melinda 2nd Clásica de San Sebastián 2nd Giro dell'Emilia 2nd Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 2nd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 4th Overall Route du Sud 1st Stage 4 4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 4th Giro del Veneto 4th Züri-Metzgete 5th Trofeo Pantalica 5th Firenze–Pistoia 6th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 6th La Flèche Wallonne 6th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 8th Giro della Provincia di Siracusa 2002

1st Stage 2

2nd Trofeo Melinda 2nd Firenze–Pistoia 3rd Road race, National Road Championships 3rd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 3rd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 4th Giro del Veneto 5th Giro di Lombardia 5th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 6th Trofeo Pantalica 7th Overall Vuelta a España 8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 9th Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 5 10th La Flèche Wallonne 2003 1st Coppa Agostoni 1st Trofeo Melinda Tour de Suisse 1st Stages 3 & 5 2nd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 1st Stage 1b (TTT) 2nd Overall Brixia Tour 3rd Overall Euskal Bizikleta 1st Stage 4a 4th Clásica de San Sebastián 5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 5th Giro dell'Emilia 5th Giro di Toscana 5th Coppa Placci 5th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 5th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 6th Amstel Gold Race 7th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 2004 2nd Giro dell'Emilia 2nd Subida a Urkiola 3rd Milano–Torino 8th Coppa Sabatini 9th Trofeo Matteotti 2005 5th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish DSQ Disqualified