Italian 1988 Olympians Giovanni Lombardi, Fabio Baldato and David Solari reunited for Tour Down Under in Adelaide
THE involvement of UCI world champion Peter Sagan in the 20th edition of the Santos Tour Down Under has helped reunite three of Italy’s best cyclists in Adelaide.
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THE involvement of UCI world champion Peter Sagan in the 20th edition of the Santos Tour Down Under has helped unite three of Italy’s best cyclists in Adelaide.
Sagan’s agent Giovanni Lombardi, BMC Racing’s team director Fabio Baldato and Adelaide-based David Solari grew up together on the track more than 30 years ago and have stayed in contact since their Azzurri national team days.
The 1988 Italian Olympic Games track cycling team-mates were all in the city on Sunday to witness Sagan’s thrilling victory in the People Classic.
Despite Lombardi living in Madrid, and recently Monaco and Colombia, Baldato based in Vicenza and Solari in Adelaide, the trio have been tight ever since they met as juniors.
Now Lombardi manages the planet’s greatest cyclist of this era after moving from the saddle to agent’s seat.
“I was a bike racer for 18 years and my world was cycling, I know how to do that well,’’ said Lombardi who divides his time between Cali, Colombia and Monaco.
“I stopped racing in 2006 to become an agent.
“I started managing (Italian two-time Giro D’Italia winner) Ivan Basso and the Schleck brothers (Andy won the 2010 Tour de France and Fränk won two stages of the French race).
“Then I started looking after many important riders and now Sagan.”
Lombardi, 48, also made history in 1999 when he featured at the maiden Tour Down Under riding for Team Telekom.
Unfortunately for the four-time Giro D’Italia stage winner he missed joining Baldato, 49, who has won four Giro D’Italia stages and two stages in the Tour de France, on the Lampre team list for the 2008 TDU.
Solari gave up the bike after his Adelaide-born wife Angeline gave birth to twin boys John and Daniel in 1994, but after spending plenty of time at national team camps in Italy the trio have always maintained a long distance friendship.
“This is a real friendship, said Baldato, who is under pressure to deliver BMC Racing another Tour Down Under win with Australian Richie Porte aiming for consecutive wins.
“In my last years of racing after I stopped in 2008 I did a lot of being a director of races and
Lampre offered me a job part-time as a director before I got the job with BMC in 2010 full time.
“This year I will spend about 180 days on the road away from my family and it’s the ninth year with BMC.”
Solari who walked away from cycling says meeting Baldato and Lombardi this week is always good.
“It’s beautiful to see these guys, we talk about the old days, the future and we’ll always have a laugh,’’ he said.
Originally published as Italian 1988 Olympians Giovanni Lombardi, Fabio Baldato and David Solari reunited for Tour Down Under in Adelaide