Alessandro Ballan

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Alessandro Ballan
Ballan at the 2007 Tour de France
Ballan at the 2007 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name Alessandro Ballan
Nickname Bontempino
Date of birth November 6, 1979 (1979-11-06) (age 28)
Country Flag of Italy Italy
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 72 kg (160 lb)
Team information
Current team Lampre
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Classics specialist
Professional team(s)
2004– Lampre
Major wins
Ronde van Vlaanderen (2007)
Three Days of De Panne (2007)
Trofeo Laigueglia (2006)
Vattenfall Cyclassics (2007)
Infobox last updated on:
April 21, 2008

Alessandro Ballan (born November 6, 1979 in Castelfranco Veneto, Veneto) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team Lampre. Although he possesses a frame that is usually more associated with climbing, Ballan has established himself as a leading spring classics contender in recent years. His nickname, Bontempino, is a diminutive reference to Guido Bontempi, to whom he bears a resemblance.[1]

Contents

[edit] Career

Ballan turned professional in 2004 with the Lampre team. Despite a decent amateur career, Ballan was not sought after by professional teams, and required a little bit of helps to secure a professional contract.[1] In his first season, Ballan worked as a domestique for Romāns Vainšteins and Gianluca Bortolami. In 2005, Ballan was given the opportunity to aim for high placings in the spring classics and achieved a stage victory and second overall in the Three Days of De Panne[2], along with sixth place in the Ronde van Vlaanderen[3], having attacked the leading group with 37km to go. Later in the season, he achieved his first ProTour victory in taking stage 4 of the Eneco Tour of Benelux[4].

In 2006, Ballan started his spring classics campaign as a highly rated contender, given his performances in 2005 and his success in the warm-up races in winning the Trofeo Laigueglia[5], a second place to Tom Boonen in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen[6] and third overall at the Tirreno-Adriatico.[7] Ballan was a leading protagonist in the classics: he took fifth at the Ronde van Vlaanderen[8] and followed this with third at Paris-Roubaix, following the disqualifications of Peter Van Petegem, Vladimir Gusev and Leif Hoste.[9] Later in the season, Ballan further proved his talent with a second placing in stage 12 of the Tour de France[10] and a third place overall in the Tour of Poland.[11] Ballan finished in sixth place in the individual rankings of the 2006 UCI ProTour.[12]

In 2007 Ballan suffered a broken collarbone during Tirreno-Adriatico. Despite this injury, Ballan worked hard in Milan-Sanremo, although Ballan's teamleader Daniele Bennati didn't win the race. Nearly two weeks later, Ballan won the Three Days of De Panne after an escape during stage 1. Ballan didn't win the stage, but beat his nearest opponent Luca Paolini during the closing time trial, in which Ballan finished 10th. On April 8, Ballan won the Ronde van Vlaanderen in a close sprint finish ahead of local favourite Leif Hoste of Belgium. Ballan is the first Italian in the history of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and the Three Days of De Panne to win both consecutively within the same season. On August 19th, he won the Vattenfall Cyclassics with an attack in the final kilometer, holding off all of the sprinters, including former winner Oscar Freire and hot young German sprinter Gerald Ciolek, to take his second one-day classic of the season.

[edit] Honours

2005 – Lampre-Caffita
1st, Stage 1, Three Days of De Panne
1st, Stage 4, Eneco Tour of Benelux
2006 – Lampre-Fondital
1st, Trofeo Laigueglia
2nd, Stage 12, Tour de France
3rd, Paris-Roubaix
3rd, Overall, Tirreno-Adriatico
5th, Ronde van Vlaanderen
8th, Milan-Sanremo
9th, Stage 20, Tour de France
2007 – Lampre-Fondital
1st, Ronde van Vlaanderen
1st, Three Days of De Panne
2nd, Stage 1
1st, Vattenfall Cyclassics
2008 – Lampre-Fondital
3rd, Paris-Roubaix

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Maloney, Tim. "Ballan following in Bartoli's footsteps?", Cyclingnews.com - First Edition Cycling News for April 7, 2005, 2005-04-07. Retrieved on 2006-09-27. (English) 
  2. ^ KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde Results (2005-03-31). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  3. ^ 89th Ronde van Vlaanderen Results (2005-04-03). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  4. ^ 1st Eneco Tour of Benelux Results (2005-08-10). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  5. ^ 43rd Trofeo Laigueglia Results (2006-02-14). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  6. ^ 49th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Results (2006-09-27). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  7. ^ 41st Tirreno-Adriatico Results (2006-03-14). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  8. ^ 90th Ronde van Vlaanderen Results (2006-04-02). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  9. ^ 104th Paris-Roubaix Results (2006-04-09). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  10. ^ 93rd Tour de France, Stage 12 Results (2006-07-14). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  11. ^ 63rd Tour of Poland Results (2006-09-10). Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
  12. ^ UCI ProTour Individual Rankings as of as of 2006-10-14 (2006-12-12). Retrieved on 2006-12-12.

2005 – Lampre-Caffita 1st, Stage 1, Three Days of De Panne 1st, Stage 4, Eneco Tour of Benelux 2006 – Lampre-Fondital 1st, Trofeo Laigueglia 2nd, Stage 12, Tour de France 3rd, Paris-Roubaix 3rd, Overall, Tirreno-Adriatico 5th, Ronde van Vlaanderen 8th, Milan-Sanremo 9th, Stage 20, Tour de France 2007 – Lampre-Fondital 1st, Ronde van Vlaanderen 1st, Three Days of De Panne 2nd, Stage 1 1st, Vattenfall Cyclassics 2008 – Lampre-Fondital 3rd, Paris-Roubaix

[edit] External links

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Riders on Lampre


Persondata
NAME Ballan, Alessandro
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Road bicycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH 1979-11-06
PLACE OF BIRTH Castelfranco Veneto, Italy
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH