Carrera (cycling team)

Infobox Cycling team
teamname=Carrera


code=CAR
base= ITA
founded=1984
disbanded=1996
manager=Davide Boifava
techdirector=
ds1 =
ds2 =
ds3 =
ds4 =
ds5 =
discipline=Road
status=Retired
season =1984-1986
1987-1990
1991
1992
1993-1996
oldname =Carrera-Inoxpran
Carrera Jeans-Vagabond
Carrera Jeans-Tassoni
Carrera Jeans-Vagabond
Carrera Jeans-Tassoni
kit

Carrera was an Italian based road bicycle racing team active from 1984 to 1996, named after sponsoring Italian jeans manufacturer Carrera. The team was successful in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France with three overall wins and several wins in the Points Classification and Mountain Classifications.

History

Inoxpran

The Inoxpran cycling team began in 1979. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingwebsite.net/ploegfiche.php?id=5542|title=Inoxpran 1979|publisher=de wielersite.nl|accessdate=2007-11-27] The Inoxpran team achieved success with Italian Giovanni Battaglin who won in the period of a month and a half in 1981 two Grand Tours in with the 1981 Giro d'Italia and the 1981 Vuelta a España. Battaglin was the second rider in history to achieve this Giro-Vuelta double after Eddy Merckx who achieved the double in 1973. Roberto Visentini had been the Inoxpran team leader in 1983 when he finished second overall in the 1983 Giro d'Italia.

Carrera

Carrera Jeans became the title sponsor in 1984 and Visentini finally won the Giro d'Italia in 1986. At the end of 1985 the team had signed Stephen Roche to perform for the team at the Tour de France. Roche had a poor season in 1986 but bounced back in 1987. When Roche won the Tour de Romandie just ahead of the 1987 Giro d'Italia, he became the number one favourite for the maglia rosa and wanted to be the team leader during the race, something that Visentini, an Italian with an Italian team and the defending champion of the event expected to be alone.cite book|author=Stephen Roche and David Walsh|title=The Agony and the Ecstasy: Stephen Roche's World of Cycling|date=1988|publisher=|] This inter team rivalry came to a head during the race when Roche attacked Visentini. Roche went on to win the race and then the 1987 Tour de France. This was the only time that the Carrera team would win the Tour and it would be the last time the team won the Giro d'Italia. Roche left the team at the end of 1987 but returned to the team in 1992 for his last two seasons.

In 1989, Carrera manager Davide Boifava together with Luciano Bracchi and Francesco Boifava founded "Carrera Podium", a manufacturer of cycles. [cite web|url=http://www.carrera-podium.it/english/home.html|title=Podium Project|publisher=Carrera-Podium|accessdate=2007-12-03] From 1990 on, the team rode on these Carrera bikes. [cite web|url=http://www.carrera-podium.it/english/missione.html|title=Mission|publisher=Carrera-Podium|accessdate=2007-12-03]

During this time, Claudio Chiappucci rose from being the domestique of Visentini and Roche during the 1987 Giro to the team leader. Chiappucci held the maillot jaune during the 1990 Tour de France finishing the race second overall and famously battled Miguel Indurain in the 1992 Tour de France. Chiappucci won the Great Italian Classic Milan-Sanremo for the team in 1991.

During the latter years of the team, a young Marco Pantani emerged as a contender for the Grand Tours during the 1994 season finishing on the podium in both the 1994 Giro d'Italia and the 1994 Tour de France. Pantani's success was hindered during the last two years of the Carrera team's existence. When Carrera stopped sponsoring a cycling team at the end of 1996, it was reported that manager Davide Boifava would be building a team around Marco Pantani with Mercatone Uno as the main sponsor. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/jul96/19_7.html|title=News for July 19|publisher=cyclingnews.com|accessdate=2007-09-07] However Davide Cassani became the manager of that new team, taking with him as directeur sportifs Giuseppe Martinelli and Alessandro Giannelli and ten of the riders from Carrera including Pantani [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/teams197.html#mercatone|title=Mercatone Uno|publisher=cyclingnews.com|accessdate=2007-09-07] forming the Mercatone Uno team with whom Pantani would win the 1998 Tour de France and the 1998 Giro d'Italia. At the same time, Boifava started a team with Asics as the main sponsor and took with him five riders from Carrera including Claudio Chiappucci. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/teams97.html#asics|title=Asics|publisher=cyclingnews |accessdate=2007-09-07]

Doping

The team doctor of the Carrera cycling team, Dr. Giovanni Grazzi, worked with Professor Francesco Conconi at the University of Ferrara in 1993.cite web|url=http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2000/01/03/current/spage_6.htm|title=I was not involved in doping scandal:Roche|publisher=Irish Examiner|accessdate=2008-04-24] It was reported in the Rome based newspaper, La Republica, in January 2000 that Conconi was involved with administering EPO to riders on the Carrera team. [cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0103/sport.html|title=Sport: Roche denies use of E.P.O.|publisher=RTE.ie|accessdate=2008-04-11] In March 2000 the Italian Judge Franca Oliva published a report detailing the conclusions of an investigation into a number of sports doctors including Professor Conconi.cite web|url=http://www.sportpro.it/doping/inchieste/procuraconidicenta05.htm|title=Ufficio della procura antidoping del coni|publisher=sportpro.it|accessdate=2007-07-20] This official judicial investigation concluded that the riders of the Carrera team were administered EPO in 1993.cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article1052710.ece?token=null&offset=12|title=Sad end to Roche's road|publisher=Timesonline|accessdate=2007-07-20] The riders included Stephen Roche, Claudio Chiappucci [ [http://www.prorider.org/chiapucci.htm Chiapucci ] ] , Guido Bontempi, Rolf Sørensen, Mario Chiesa, Massino Chirotto and Fabio Roscioli.

Files seized as part of the judicial investigation allegedly detail a number of aliases for former Tour de France, Giro d'Italia winner and World Champion Stephen Roche including Rocchi, Rossi, Rocca, Roncati, Righi and Rossini. [cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0109/sport.html|title=Roche's name again to forefront in doping investigation|publisher=rte.ie|accessdate=2007-07-20] In 1997, Claudio Chiappucci told prosecutor Vincenzo Scolastico that he had been using EPO since 1993, but later he recalled that statement. [http://limburg.hbvl.be/nieuws-sport-wielrennen/2004/03/11/vrijgesproken-conconi-moreel-veroordeeld-door-italiaanse-gerecht.html Vrijgesproken Conconi moreel veroordeeld door Italiaanse gerecht nl icon] ]

Cyclists

Many well known and successful cyclists rode for Carrera:
*flagicon|UZB Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (1991-1992)
*flagicon|ITA Guido Bontempi (1984-1993)
*flagicon|ITA Claudio Chiappucci (1985-1996)
*flagicon|ITA Massimo Ghirotto (1985-1992)
*flagicon|GER Christian Henn (1989-1991)
*flagicon|ITA Bruno Leali (1984-1988)
*flagicon|AUT Peter Luttenberger (1994-1996)
*flagicon|SUI Erich Mächler (1985-1991)
*flagicon|ITA Marco Pantani (1992-1996)
*flagicon|IRL Stephen Roche (1986-1987, 1992-1993)
*flagicon|POR Acacio da Silva Mora (1989-1990)
*flagicon|ITA Filippo Simeoni (1994-1996)
*flagicon|DEN Rolf Sorensen (1993)
*flagicon|ITA Andrea Tafi (1992-1993)
*flagicon|NED Johan van der Velde (1989)
*flagicon|ITA Roberto Visentini (1984-1988)
*flagicon|ITA Enrico Zaina (1989-1991, 1995-1996)
*flagicon|SUI Beat Zberg (1993-1996)
*flagicon|SUI Markus Zberg (1996)

Most important wins

;1984
*Gent-Wevelgem (Bontempi)
*Prologue and Stage 6 Tirreno-Adriatico (Bontempi en Visentini)
*2 stages 1984 Giro d'Italia (Visentini en Leali)
*Stage Giro del Trentino (Visentini)

;1985
*Giro del Lazio (Bontempi)

;1986
*Coppa Placci (Bontempi)
*Gent-Wevelgem (Bontempi)
*Paris-Brussels (Bontempi)
*Stage Tour de Suisse (Ghirotto)
*Stage Dauphiné Libéré (Mächler)
*Stage 6 Paris-Nice (Vang Pedersen)
*General Classification and 1 stage 1986 Giro d'Italia (Visentini)
*3rd overall 1986 Tour de France (Zimmermann)

;1987
*Coppa Placci (Bontempi)
*Italian road race championship (Leali)
*Prologue and stage 2 Dauphiné Libéré (Mächler)
*Milan-Sanremo (Mächler)
*1 stage Paris-Nice (Roche)
*Overall Classification and 2 stages Tour de Romandie (Roche)
*General Classification and 1 stage Tour of Valencia (Roche)
*Prologue and 1 stage 1987 Giro d'Italia (Visentini)
*General Classification and 2 stages 1987 Giro d'Italia (Roche)
*General Classification and 1 stage 1987 Tour de France (Roche)
*flagiconUCI World road race championship (Roche)

;1988
*E3 Prijs Vlaanderen (Bontempi)
*General Classification and 2 stages Tirreno-Adriatico (Mächler)
*General Classification, prologue and 1 stage (Mächler)
*General Classification and 1 stage Giro del Trentino (Zimmermann)
*1 Stage Tour de Romandie (Zimmerman)

;1989
*General Classification and 1 stage Vuelta a Andalucía (Bordonali)
*Coppa Placci (Chiappucci)
*Giro del Piemonte (Chiappucci)
*1 Stage Giro d'Italia (Da Silva)
*1 Stage Tour de France (Da Silva)
*1 Stage Tirreno-Adriatico (Mächler)

;1990
*2 stages Tour of Valencia (Bontempi)
*1 Stage Paris-Nice (Chiappucci)
*GP Pino Cerami (Sciandri)
*2nd overall 1990 Tour de France (Chiappucci)

;1991
*1 Stage Vuelta a España (Bontempi)
*Milan-Sanremo (Chiappucci)
*General Classification Vuelta al País Vasco (Chiappucci)
*King of the Mountains Classification and Points Classification 1991 Tour de France (Chiappucci and Abdoesjaparov)
*1 Stage Driedaagse van De Panne (Sciandri)
*3rd overall 1991 Tour de France (Chiapucci)

;1992
*Points classification and 4 stages Vuelta a España (Abdoesjaparov)
*Mountains Classification and 2nd overall 1992 Tour de France (Chiappucci)
*2 stages Tour of Valencia (Abdoesjaparov)
*Giro dell'Appennino (Chiappucci)
*Stage Vuelta al País Vasco (Poelnikov)

;1993
*1 stage Tour of Valencia (Bontempi)
*Clásica de San Sebastián (Chiappucci)
*Points Classification 1993 Tour de France
*1 Stage Three Days of De Panne (Sorensen)
*Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Sorensen)
*Milan-Turin (Sorensen)
*Rund um den Henninger Turm (Sorensen)
*1 Stage Tirreno-Adriatico (Sorensen)
*Prologue and 2 stage Tour de Romandie (Sorensen)
*1 stage Tour de Suisse (Sorensen)
*Giro del Piemonte (Beat Zberg)

;1994
*Points Classification 1994 Tour de France
*General Classification and 1 stage Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme (Chiappucci)
*Giro del Piemonte (Miceli)
*2nd overall and 2 stages 1994 Giro d'Italia (Pantani)
*Young Classification and 3rd overall Tour de France (Pantani)

;1995
*Giro del Piemonte (Chiappucci)
*Young Classification and 2 stages Tour de France (Pantani)
*1 Stage Tour de Suisse (Pantani)
*1 Stage Giro d'Italia (Zaina)
*1 Stage Tour de Romandie (Beat Zberg)
*General Classification and 1 stage Vuelta Ciclista Asturias (Beat Zberg)

;1996
*General Classification and 1 stage Tour de Suisse (Luttenberger)
*2 Stages Giro d'Italia (Zaina)
*Rund um den Henninger Turm (Beat Zberg)

References