Today at the Gran Fondo Giro d'Italia in Miami put on by RCS, I had the opportunity to ride with Mario Cipollini, Filippo Pozzato, Danilo Di Luca, Liz Hatch, George Hincapie and various other Farnese-Vini Selle Italia developmental team riders. I'll have to say it wasn't just another sunday ride through miami.



Post your encounter among the likes of a professional(s) and the exhilarating experience it was (or was not).

Super cool. Nice pic. Others?

By the way, what was George riding? Guessing it wasn't a Trek or even BMC.

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Yes more pics please!

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We need some Liz Hatch pics!

Hincapie is serving a doping suspension, isn't he? I'm surprised he was allowed to participate.

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George is indeed riding a BMC, he's involved is marketing for them

George retired so he can ride as much as he wants!! Indeed he was riding a bmc team machine slr01. More pics later on.


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Maratona dles Dolomites, 2011.
I rode past Bettini, not noticing him.

Afterwards at home I watched the video of the event, seeing Paolo finishing with Zanardi, and I recalled I saw a recumbent on top of the Gardena (?)
It was easy to find them from my onboard camera's footage, and there you go, I can say, I rode with a pro!
Strange enough, from the video I hear a lot of people greeting Paolo, it was just me who rode past unaware.

January 2011, Col des Rates near Calpe/Benidorm in South Spain.
While riding with some mates, at halfway point I notice some BMC guys approacing; not much to say just that I was struggling to keep up their high pace (later on I realized they were doing sfr or sort of).

NB: sorry for crappy pic.

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Wow, I hadn't realised Zanardi did the Maratona, that's incredibly impressive.

Alessandro realizza un’altra impresa. Alla Maratona dles Dolomites (Alta Badia) questa mattina, accompagnato dal Commissario Tecnico della Nazionale maschile di ciclismo e campione olimpico Paolo Bettini, Zanardi ha portato a termine il circuito Sellaronda (55 km) in 3h09’, nuovo record della manifestazione per questa categoria (prec. Roland Ruepp 3h24’47”).

http://www.paracyclingworld.it/wp/blog/2011/07/10/record-della-corsa-per-alessandro-alla-maratona-dles-dolomites/

55km in the dolomites in 3'10" using only his arms. Hardcore mofo!

Great pics ...it was 2005 I think and I was at Alpe d' Huez for the tour . The day before the stage I rode up the Alp and bumped into a load of CSC pro riders who where not in riding in the tour . I rode with them all the up and they were a very nice group of riders to talk too.

I got passed by the Sky team on Box Hill last year, little realising what they would do a few months later. I was only going at tempo pace on my third lap, but they went by like I was standing still. It was quite impressive really.

Can't understand how Hincapie can participate.. aren't these races sanctioned by the UCI? If they are not sanctioned by the UCI, then UCI license holders are not permitted to partake, or have I completely misunderstood?

Also, D. Zabriskie partook in Hincapie's GF, and he has not retired and is also serving a six month suspension.

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It's not a race. It's a fun ride!

And the UCI don't follow any rules, they just pick and choose from a pre-set list and apply randomly.

Thought i might join in on this conversation.
I used to live in a town called Silkeborg and used to train a lot with the local mtb club. One winter Jakob Fuglsang, who i believe lived or had family in Silkeborg, decided to join one of our sunday rides. Everyone who has ridden on snowy trails know death can strike every second, and this happened to me and a friend directly in front of Jakob bringing him down with us.

Another fun fact: All of us was riding big knobby tyres and still couldn't manage to ascent the various climbs. Fuglsang rode the entire trip on "tuned" Black Panthers and seemed to not struggle at all.... When i say tuned i mean they had every second middle knob cut off, apparently something most of the Vredestein sponsored teams did.

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