Manuel Belletti

Manuel Belletti (born 14 October 1985) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTeam . He took a total of 21 professional wins during his career, nine of them on Italian soil. Nearly two years later he booked his first success in road cycling, with when he finished third in the San Bernardino di Lugo and second in the San Donà di Piave. His first win came in the Giro Ciclisto Pesche Nettarine di Romagna where he won the first part of the fourth stage with the finish in Lugo, Emilia-Romagna. He reached the third spot in the Roncoleva di Trevenzuola before claiming his second career win in stage 1 of the Giro del Veneto in Lonigo. Furthermore he finished second in the Trofeo Alcide Degasperi and the GP Cementizillo, while finishing third in the Somma Lombardo. After this stage race Belletti stayed in Venezuela to ride in the Clásico Ciclístico Banfoandes, a race over with the start in Punto Fijo and the finish in Coro. After 3 hours, 38 minutes and 15 seconds Belletti won the race to claim his first professional victory.

Also in 2009 Belletti rode some races in South America, this time in Argentina where he came in third in stage 3 of the Giro del Sol San Juan and in stage 6 of the Tour de San Luis. In the Giro del Friuli he even beat Petacchi, but still came in third as this time Mirco Lorenzetto and Grega Bole took the first two spots. Later on in the Giro di Toscana he finished in second position behind Petacchi. Another two top-three results were recorded when Belletti finished third in the 1st stage of the Tour of Austria behind André Greipel and Graeme Brown and second in the Grand Prix de Fourmies behind Romain Feillu.

Colnago–CSF Inox (2010–2011) Belletti had shown his talent and his skills, resulting in interest from other teams. He then signed a new contract with for the 2010 season. His first notable result for his new team was a second spot in the first part of the second stage in the Circuit de la Sarthe. In preparation of his first ever Grand tour, the 2010 Giro d'Italia he rode in the Tour of Turkey and claimed a third spot in the 6th stage, finishing in Finike. During the Giro d'Italia which started in Amsterdam, Netherlands Belletti claimed the fourth spot in the sixth stage finishing in Marina di Carrara. Thirteen turned out to be Belletti's lucky number as he managed to join a breakaway group on the road to Cesenatico in the 13th stage of the race. The group kept an advantage on the peloton of more than seven minutes and Belletti turned out to be the fastest sprinter of the breakaway group, claiming his first victory in a grand tour and his first victory for his new team; Two days later he abandoned the race. A couple of months later he finished fourth and third in two stages of the Brixia Tour, fifth and third in two stages of the Danmark Rundt and a fourth position in the Dutch Veenendaal–Veenendaal Classic. Later that season he finished second in the first stage of the Tour of Britain, second in the Memorial Viviana Manservisi and third in the Memorial Marco Pantani. Less than a month later he came second behind Peter Sagan in the fourth stage of the Giro di Sardegna, but he claimed his second victory of the season in March in the first stage of the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali. He then claimed second spot in the first stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León before winning his third race of the year in Marmaris, Turkey during the third stage of the Tour of Turkey. Just like the year before this race was a preparation for the Giro d'Italia in which he showed his sprinting strength by finishing third behind Petacchi and Cavendish in the second stage. He abandoned the race just after its halfway point. His fourth and last win of 2011 came when he claimed the third stage of the Brixia Tour, where he was the first of four Italians to reach the finish line in Prevalle. He finished the year with a third place in the sixth stage of the Danmark Rundt, a second place in the Coppa Bernocchi, another third place in the Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese, a second spot in the second stage of the Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, a third place in the first stage of the Giro di Padania and a second place in the Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli. In the first couple of months of the season he could not continue the form of the previous years as he just managed to finish in fifth position in the third stage of the Tirreno–Adriatico and in the Scheldeprijs. He took one win with the team, in the fourth stage of the 2014 Tour du Limousin.

Southeast Pro Cycling (2015–2017) Belletti joined (formerly known as ) for the 2015 season.

Eolo–Kometa and retirement (2021) In November 2020 announced that they had signed Belletti for the 2021 season. with his last race being the 2021 Gran Piemonte in October.

Major results

2004 2nd Team pursuit, National Track Championships 2006 1st Stage 1 Giro del Veneto 1st Stage 4a Giro Ciclisto Pesche Nettarine di Romagna 2nd Mezzano Inferiore 2nd San Donà di Piave 2nd Somma Lombardo 2nd Gran Premio della Liberazione 3rd Roncoleva di Trevenzuola 3rd Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza 3rd San Bernardino di Lugo 2007 1st Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza 1st Memorial Danilo Furlan Giro Ciclisto Pesche Nettarine di Romagna 1st Stages 4 & 5 1st Stage 5 Giro del Veneto 2nd Trofeo Alcide Degasperi 2nd GP Cementizillo 3rd Somma Lombardo 2008 1st Stage 1 Clásico Ciclístico Banfoandes 2009 2nd Giro di Toscana 2nd Grand Prix de Fourmies 3rd Giro del Friuli 8th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese 2010 1st Coppa Bernocchi 1st Stage 13 Giro d'Italia 2nd Gran Premio Città di Misano – Adriatico 3rd Memorial Marco Pantani 4th Dutch Food Valley Classic 2011 1st Stage 3 Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 1st Stage 1a Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 1st Stage 3 Tour of Turkey 1st Stage 3 Brixia Tour 2nd Coppa Bernocchi 2nd Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 3rd Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese 6th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 7th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi 2012 Route du Sud

1st Stage 4 5th Scheldeprijs 5th Paris–Brussels 6th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 7th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi 8th Vattenfall Cyclassics 2013 4th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 2014 1st Stage 4 Tour du Limousin 4th Grand Prix de Fourmies 5th Route Adélie 7th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie 7th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 10th Memorial Marco Pantani 2015 1st Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi 1st Dwars door Drenthe 1st Stage 1a Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 2nd Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 6th Ronde van Drenthe 8th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 2016

1st Stage 1a Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 2nd Trofeo Matteotti 5th Grand Prix de Fourmies 2017 2nd Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi 2nd Trofeo Matteotti 9th Brussels Cycling Classic 2018

1st Stage 1 Tour of Hainan 1st Stages 3 & 5 1st Stage 7 Tour de Langkawi 2nd Coppa Bernocchi 3rd Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 4th Paris–Camembert 6th Gran Piemonte 2019 Giro di Sicilia

1st Stage 2 Tour de Hongrie

1st Stage 1 1st Stage 1 Tour de Bretagne 7th Trofeo Matteotti 2020 8th Milano–Torino

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete IP In progress DNF Did not finish