22 Facts About Mario Cipollini

Mario Cipollini's nicknames include Il Re Leone and Super Mario.

Mario Cipollini is regarded as having been the best sprinter of his generation.

Mario Cipollini won 12 stages in the Tour de France and three stages in the Vuelta a Espana.

Mario Cipollini was a prolific winner in his youth career, scoring a total of 125 victories in age group and amateur races before joining the professional peloton in 1989.

At the peak of his career, Mario Cipollini's speed was unrivaled, and he is credited with being the first rider with a sprint train.

The red jerseys of his Saeco team, featuring team-mates such as Paolo Fornaciari, Giuseppe Calcaterra, Gian Matteo Fagnini and Mario Cipollini Scirea, were commonly seen at the front of the peloton toward the end of the flat Grand Tour stages in the late 1990s.

Mario Cipollini won the rainbow jersey in a sprint finish in Zolder, Belgium.

Mario Cipollini's attempt was almost derailed by Alessandro Petacchi of the Fassa Bortolo team.

Mario Cipollini emerged from retirement in early 2008, with Rock Racing.

Mario Cipollini made no secret that he did not like climbing stages, and while he completed all stages of the Giro on many occasions, he infuriated purists by not attempting mountain stages at the Tour or Vuelta.

Mario Cipollini became famous for extravagant clothing, especially racing uniforms, sporting custom-made skin suits.

Mario Cipollini was fined for wearing an all-yellow outfit while leading the Tour de France; this practice to wear more yellow and even have a yellow bike has since become generally accepted.

Mario Cipollini was kicked out of the 2000 Vuelta a Espana after he punched Vitalicio Seguros rider Francisco Cerezo to the ground before the start of a stage.

Mario Cipollini's team had been invited to compete with the condition that Cipollini participated.

Mario Cipollini said he was recovering from injury and should not have been forced to race in the first place.

In February 2013, news surfaced that Mario Cipollini could have been a client of doctor Eufemiano Fuentes from 2001 to 2004.

Mario Cipollini's name was on the list of doping tests published by the French Senate on 24 July 2013 that were collected during the 1998 Tour de France and found positive for EPO when retested in 2004.

In October 2022, Mario Cipollini was sentenced by the Lucca court to 3 years in prison and to compensate the civil party for 85 thousand euros.

Mario Cipollini commented that it was the only place where he could safely get up to top speed for training.

Mario Cipollini responded to criticisms by claiming that he helped generate coverage for his sponsors, and that it was all part of his showmanship.

Mario Cipollini did little to dispel these notions with comments such as, "If I weren't a professional cyclist, I'd be a porn star".

Daniel Coyle's book Lance Armstrong's War says Mario Cipollini's profile was little more than a decoy.