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Top sprinter Cipollini retires
Italy's Mario Cipollini, one of cycling's most celebrated riders, announced his retirement on Tuesday.
The 2002 world champion has been the sport's leading sprinter for the last 16 years and holds the Giro d'Italia record for the most stage wins, having crossed the line first 42 times. He has won 12 stages in the Tour de France.
The 38-year-old Tuscan was expected to start this year's Giro next month, but has decided to bring the curtain down on a magnificent career that yielded 189 victories.
Explaining his decision via a statement from his Liquigas team, who are in Switzerland for this week's Tour de Romandie, Cipollini said: "Announcing my retirement just over a week before the Giro is a difficult but honest decision. Hopefully people will understand.
"I would have liked to be at the start of the Giro in Reggio Calabria, to try to win again and perhaps take the pink jersey but perhaps an 'oldie' like me, who has given a lot to cycling but also received a lot, should know when to choose the right moment to stop.
"I want to thank the Liquigas-Bianchi team that had faith in me, they deserve to be recognized for what they did for me. I'm proud to have ended my career as a rider wearing the jersey of this great team."
The Liquigas team announced that Cipollini, nicknamed the "Lion King" would reveal further details of why he has decided to retire at a press conference in Milan Friday.
Throughout his 17-year career, Cipollini was one of the most charismatic riders in the sport of cycling, managing to combine the huge physical demands of racing with a playboy lifestyle equal to any footballer.
He has won stages in all three major Tours and attracts an adoring army of fans to the Giro d'Italia in which he went past the late Alfredo Binda's record of stage wins in 2003.
Born in Lucca on March 22, 1967, Cipollini turned professional in 1989 with the Del Tongo team and won at least one race in each of his 17 seasons as a rider.
In 2002 he won the world road race title in Belgium and also won the prestigious Milan-San Remo one-day classic as well as a stage of the Ghent-Wevelgem classic in Belgium.
He wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France for a total of six days and won 12 stages between 1993 and 1999.
Cipollini was on the verge of retiring last year after pulling out of the Giro because of a crash and then quitting the Tour de France with a thigh injury.
However he carried on and managed his final victory last month on home roads at the Giro di Lucca race.
Cipollini is the second big-name cyclist to announce his retirement this month.
On April 18 Lance Armstrong said he would quit after attempting to win a seventh Tour de France in July.
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