Pippo Pozzato is the last true Italian playboy of the peloton and makes no bones about living in Monte Carlo and owning a Ferrari sports car.
Many people criticise Pozzato for his hair bands and flowery shoes but also admire his class and ability in the classics.
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He is considered one of the most talented riders in Italy after turning professional with Mapei at just 18 but also seems to miss out on major victories and is quick at making excuses when he loses. He was a good cyclo-cross rider as a schoolboy and won a silver medal in the team pursuit at junior world track championships.
Pozzato was part of the Mapei development team between 2000 and 2002 that also included Britain's Charly Wegelius, Australia's Michael Rogers and Swiss raging bull Fabian Cancellara. He moved to Fassa Bortolo in 2003 and won Tirreno-Adriatico at just 21 but crashed out at Milan-San Remo.
He won a stage in the 2004 Tour de France and won the Hamburg Hew Cyclassics race in 2005 before confirming his talent with success at Milan-San Remo in 2006. He attacked on the Poggio climb with close friend but rival Alessandro Ballan and then jumped away alone to hold off the sprinters. Later in the year he also won the rain-soaked stage of the Tour of Britain to Sheffield.
Pozzato suffered from the tense rivalry with Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini at Quick Step and opted to move to Liquigas in 2007. He won Het Volk and a stage of the Tour de France in 2007 but disappointed in the classics in 2008 and suffered under the pressure to perform.
When Liquigas opted to bring in Ivan Basso and focus on the major stage races, Pozzato moved to the new Russian Katusha team for 2009. He lead the team in the classics along with with Belgium's Gert Steegmans, and finished second at Paris- Roubaix, forth at Paris- Tours and fifth at the Tour of Flanders.
2010 saw him win a stage of the Giro, his first victory in his home tour, but he narrowly missed out on bronze at the World Championships Road Race in Australia.
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Filippo Pozzato results
2009
Driedaagse De Panne; stage one
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
National road race championships
Giro del Veneto
Memorial Cimurri
2008
Giro della Provincia di Grosseto; stage one
Giro della Provincia di Grosseto; overall
2007
Tour du Haut Var
Het Volk
Trofeo Matteotti
Tour de France; stage five
Tour of Poland; stage six
GP Industria & Commercio di Prato
2006
Milan-San Remo
Tour of Britain; stage three
2005
Hamburg HEW Cyclassics
Giro del Lazio
Tour of Germany; stage two
Tour of California; prologue TT
2004
Giro della Liguria
Trofeo Laigueglia
Tour de France; stage seven
2003
Trofeo Laigueglia
Trofeo dell'Etna
Tirreno-Adriatico; overall
Tirreno-Adriatico; stage two
Trofeo Matteotti
2002
Vuelta a Cuba; overall
Vuelta a Cuba: stage 11a
Giro del Lago Maggiore
Tour de Normandie; prologue
Tour de Normandie; stage two
Tour de Normandie; stage three
Tour de Normandie; stage five
Tour du Lac Léman
Tour of Slovenia; stage four
Tour of Slovenia; stage seven
Bohemia Tour; prologue
Tour de l'Avenir; stage one
Tour de l'Avenir; stage five
Duo Normand TT (with Evgeni Petrov)
Filippo Pozzato photos
Click on the thumbnails of Filippo Pozzato below to open a larger image in a new window.
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