DeeKnow’s Grotto

As anyone who's had their ear bent by me will attest, unlike most red-blooded kiwi males the only sporting interest I have ever really payed pay any attention to is ... Cycling.

Lately that's been of the motor variety, but back in my youth (eeek) I had a brief flirtation with triathlon, followed by a slightly more serious pursuit of cycling glory, after the realisation I sucked at the swimming leg of Tri's.

Over the last couple of years tho there's been less actual bum-on-seat and much more reading, and right at the moment there's plenty of action to read about in the European races that lead up to the premier tours of Italy, France and finally Spain.

Lance is the name most folks recall year round these days, and he deserves all the accolades, but his form so far this year has been pretty bloody average. He's pulled out of a few multi-day races, and not really won much of anything. This is no cause for alarm really coz he pretty much plans the racing calendar around being in top shape for the Tour de France which is still two months away.

So if Lance isn't news, then what is?

Well, I'm a real sucker for drama-queens (and kings) of sport and the biggest showmen of cycling over the last decade has without doubt been specialist Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini, or Super-Mario as he's called by adoring fans, press and competitors alike.

So it is with much sorrow we find out today that the ever flamboyant Lion-King (another of his many monikers) has finally called it quits after a come-back following his last retirement announcement two years ago (a classic Italian move if ever there was one).

"Maybe, an old man like me, who has given a lot to cycling and has also received a lot, has to recognise when is the right moment to stop." 

It would be awesome to be a fluent speaker of Italian to be able to consume the homage payed by his countrymen at the moment, but I guess I'll have to make do with the lossy translations. His current team manager was quoted thus...

"It's a great loss. I don't think we will ever find another like him. I am sad at this moment; I went through times of delight and pain with him. But I just remember the delights.... He is a great character, unique. In soccer it is easy to have a certain profile, but it's harder in a smaller sport. He was larger than life, like Tomba in skiing"

Mario was an awesome athelete, supremely charismatic, a clothes horse, a comedian, a ladies man and an inspiration (or at least source of amusement) for cyclists the world over. 

Cipollini loved to hold court in front of adoring Italian journalists who would lap up his one-liners. Once after winning a Giro stage, Cipollini offered if he hadn't been a professional bike racer, he'd fancy himself a porn star.

I guess he finally realised at his advancing age of 38-years he just couldn't quite mix it with the up and coming youngsters in the brutal world of road cycling sprinting.

Arrivederci Cipo!!!

7:55:14 PM