Mario Cipollini will not be invited to the Tour de France after all, a spokesman for his team confirmed Monday.
The world road race champion was hoping Tour officials would alter their plans and offer a last-minute invitation to his Domina Vacanze team, but the Italian sprinter was notified Monday that would not be the case.
Claudio Santi, the director of the Italian cyclists federation, was told of the decision by Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc, Cipollini's team spokesman Gilberto Petrucci confirmed.
The decision was bound to be met by heavy criticism in cycling circles.
Two weeks ago, when Cipollini's team was not named as one of the final four wild card entries for this year's Tour, Leblanc was besieged by calls to admit the "king of the sprinters."
Many of Cipollini's fellow cyclists, among them four-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, and team officials said the world champion's team should gain automatic entry into cycling's most prestigious event.
Following the latest rejection, Cipollini released a brief statement saying he prefers ``not to talk about the decision.''
Tour officials were unavailable for comment late Monday.
Cipollini recently set the all-time record of 42 stage wins in the Giro d'Italia, the second most prestigious race in the sport, eclipsing the 70-year-old record previously held by Alfredo Binda.
He has won 12 stages in the Tour de France, but never completed the race.
Twelve days after winning her second Grand Slam title at the French Open, Coco Gauff fell at the first hurdle on grass in Berlin on Thursday as beaten Paris finalist Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the quarter-finals. Recipient of a first round bye, American Gauff lost 6-3, 6-3 to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu as world number one Sabalenka beat Rebeka Masarova 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) in her second round tie. Winner of 10 main tour titles, including the US Open in 2023 and the WTA Finals last year, Gauff has yet to lift a trophy in a grass-court tournament. “After I won the first
While British star Jack Draper spent the past week trying to find rhythm and comfort in his first grass tournament of the season at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, Jiri Lehecka on Saturday bulldozed everything in his path. After more than two furious hours of battle, their form was reflected in the final scoreline as Lehecka toppled a frustrated Draper, the second seed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the biggest final of his career, against Carlos Alcaraz. Lehecka is also the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990. Draper, who
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka staged a “crazy comeback,” saving four match points before beating Elena Rybakina 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the quarter-finals of the Berlin Open on Friday. Sabalenka was 6-2 down in the final-set tie-breaker, but won six straight points to reach her eighth semi-final of the season. “Elena is a great player and we’ve had a lot of tough battles,” Sabalenka said. “I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky.” “I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down
The Canterbury Crusaders edged the Waikato Chiefs 16-12 in an intense Super Rugby Pacific final battle in Christchurch yesterday to claim their 15th title in 30 years of the Southern Hemisphere competition. Hooker Codie Taylor scored a try and Rivez Reihana contributed 11 points from the kicking tee as the most dominant team in Super Rugby history extended their perfect home playoff record to 32 successive matches since 1998. The Chiefs, who were looking for a first title since 2013, scored first-half tries through George Dyer and Shaun Stevenson, but were unable to register a point after the break and fell to
RSS