Daniele Nardello

dave_1

I see he's retiring. What do you make of his career?

www.cyclingnews.com



Nardello hangs up the bike

At the age of 36, and after 16 years of professional racing including 26 victories, Daniele Nardello has decided to put an end into his career as a cyclist. Because of continuous physical problems during the last few months the Fuji-Servetto rider has decided to retire.

His last racer will be the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, Brabantse Pijl, Driedaagse De Panne, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Gent-Wevelgem. Nardello will then enter the technical staff of the team.

GroupOfOne MkII

Knew he'd had one or two TdF top tens, but didn't realise three (8th in '98, 7th in '99, 10th in '00 - ok so 1998 was a strange year for TdF top tens!).

Had some good semi-Classic wins (Paris-Bourges) and of course a big win at Zurich, but think his 5th in Lombardy and 4th in Flanders pretty much sums him up. Good, but just that level beneath the likes of Bettini and Bartoli who he was up against at the time.

mididoctors

touted as the next greatest thing.... never adavanced beyong a certain level.... plateaued out

IIRC was one of the riders who backed simioni

my memory of him is pulling on the front trying to chase tyler hamilton in the 2003 tour on behalf of zabel... there was some serious turns being pulled that day... he was steaming..

it was like a cartoon when the character has smoke coming out of his ears.

DanielFriebe

He was actually one of the riders who allegedly insulted Simeoni in the 2004 Tour, accusing him of "spitting in the soup".

More on this in next month's Procycling.

Daniel Friebe
Features Editor

dave_1

I remember he placed highly at the Tour Du Pont 1995 or 96..predicted to go on to big things

mididoctors

DanielFriebe wrote:

He was actually one of the riders who allegedly insulted Simeoni in the 2004 Tour, accusing him of "spitting in the soup".

More on this in next month's Procycling.

Daniel Friebe
Features Editor

is that right.... must have my wires crossed....

Kléber

He had a nice pedalling style but seems to have been part of the generation of Italian riders lost to "sports doctors", but this of course applies to many. And before you say it Dave, of course he was talented.

He doesn't come out of the Simeoni story very well though:

Vacanze team manager Vincenzo Santoni and Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) president Giancarlo Ceruti have both come out in support of Filippo Simeoni after his dressing-down by Lance Armstrong on stage 18 of the Tour de France on Friday...
...Santoni then hit out at T-Mobile rider Daniele Nardello, who, along with compatriots Giuseppe Guerini, Filippo Pozzato and Andrea Peron, clearly aligned himself with Armstrong. According to Simeoni, Nardello told him that he had "deserved" to be first thwarted in his breakaway bid and then berated by Armstrong. "Nardello said: 'You're a disgrace to cycling. People like you shouldn't be in the Tour. You spat in the soup you're drinking from.

- BikeRadar, 24 July 2004

When I was caught, Armstrong organised a chorus with [Filippo] Pozzato, [Daniele] Nardello and others and they started abusing me, ‘Bastard! Bastard!’ They humiliated me.”

The Times, 27 May 2007

dave_1

Kléber wrote:

He had a nice pedalling style but seems to have been part of the generation of Italian riders lost to "sports doctors", but this of course applies to many. And before you say it Dave, of course he was talented.

He doesn't come out of the Simeoni story very well though:

Vacanze team manager Vincenzo Santoni and Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) president Giancarlo Ceruti have both come out in support of Filippo Simeoni after his dressing-down by Lance Armstrong on stage 18 of the Tour de France on Friday...
...Santoni then hit out at T-Mobile rider Daniele Nardello, who, along with compatriots Giuseppe Guerini, Filippo Pozzato and Andrea Peron, clearly aligned himself with Armstrong. According to Simeoni, Nardello told him that he had "deserved" to be first thwarted in his breakaway bid and then berated by Armstrong. "Nardello said: 'You're a disgrace to cycling. People like you shouldn't be in the Tour. You spat in the soup you're drinking from.

- BikeRadar, 24 July 2004

When I was caught, Armstrong organised a chorus with [Filippo] Pozzato, [Daniele] Nardello and others and they started abusing me, ‘Bastard! Bastard!’ They humiliated me.”

The Times, 27 May 2007

hey Kleber, as a matter of fact, i had a look at him on wikipedia re doping and didn't see any doping links..so I am wondering, hard to believe, if this guy managed 16 years as a pro without being connected to a single doping invesitagation.

mclarent

maybe he knows how to edit Wikipedia...

Kléber

Quite, he could be totally innocent for all we know, losing race after race to doped riders, including team mates at Mapei and T-Mobile.

dave_1

Kléber wrote:

Quite, he could be totally innocent for all we know, losing race after race to doped riders, including team mates at Mapei and T-Mobile.

hard to read much into his career progress...seemed on a plateau, no huge classic wins or GC podiums at the GTs

andyp

He was a very adaptable rider, could climb the high mountains and race the cobbled classics. He never delivered on his early promise in terms of a really big win but was a very dependable support rider for the likes of Bartoli, Bettini and Zabel.

My abiding memory of him is seeing him abandon Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne one year within a kilometre of the start! He had back problems at the time and clearly they were affecting him but why the hell did he start? One can only assume he was making a point to the T-Mobile management.

ms_tree

Didn't he win a one day classic that's isn't running now? Zurich I think.

disquieting_museeuws

DanielFriebe wrote:

He was actually one of the riders who allegedly insulted Simeoni in the 2004 Tour, accusing him of "spitting in the soup".

More on this in next month's Procycling.

Daniel Friebe
Features Editor

I seem to remember one of the respected Italian riders comforting Simeoni after the stage 18 fiasco - anyone know who that was, I would have said 'Nardello' if asked?

afx237vi

disquieting_museeuws wrote:

DanielFriebe wrote:

He was actually one of the riders who allegedly insulted Simeoni in the 2004 Tour, accusing him of "spitting in the soup".

More on this in next month's Procycling.

Daniel Friebe
Features Editor

I seem to remember one of the respected Italian riders comforting Simeoni after the stage 18 fiasco - anyone know who that was, I would have said 'Nardello' if asked?

A couple to choose from here:

"Simeoni's only, meagre consolation, he claimed last night, were the words of encouragement he received from Salvatore Commesso of Saeco and Quick Step's Paolo Bettini, plus team-mates Francesco Secchiari, Massimiliano Mori and Michele Scarponi."

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/i ... eoni-9167/

DanielFriebe

Gilberto Simoni, Fabio Baldato and Erik Zabel were others who, according to Simeoni, tried to console him.

dave_1

to be fair his career trajectory doesn't look suspect. Would be curios to know what his amatuer results were...

disquieting_museeuws

Re. Nardello & Simeoni - my memory was of a rider after the finish line consoling Simeoni, captured on a hand-held tv camera. Thanks for the suggestions, I guess it wasn't Nardello, might have been Simoni (driving me mad now because I can almost remember it but not quite).

mididoctors

disquieting_museeuws wrote:

Re. Nardello & Simeoni - my memory was of a rider after the finish line consoling Simeoni, captured on a hand-held tv camera. Thanks for the suggestions, I guess it wasn't Nardello, might have been Simoni (driving me mad now because I can almost remember it but not quite).

I remember nardello being in a group of riders protesting to the race commissars about the whole incident.. but this may be them bring brought up on the spitting/abuse charges? he was mentioned by name as well....

nathanbloke

Kléber wrote:

He had a nice pedalling style but seems to have been part of the generation of Italian riders lost to "sports doctors", but this of course applies to many. And before you say it Dave, of course he was talented.

He doesn't come out of the Simeoni story very well though:

Vacanze team manager Vincenzo Santoni and Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) president Giancarlo Ceruti have both come out in support of Filippo Simeoni after his dressing-down by Lance Armstrong on stage 18 of the Tour de France on Friday...
...Santoni then hit out at T-Mobile rider Daniele Nardello, who, along with compatriots Giuseppe Guerini, Filippo Pozzato and Andrea Peron, clearly aligned himself with Armstrong. According to Simeoni, Nardello told him that he had "deserved" to be first thwarted in his breakaway bid and then berated by Armstrong. "Nardello said: 'You're a disgrace to cycling. People like you shouldn't be in the Tour. You spat in the soup you're drinking from.

- BikeRadar, 24 July 2004

When I was caught, Armstrong organised a chorus with [Filippo] Pozzato, [Daniele] Nardello and others and they started abusing me, ‘Bastard! Bastard!’ They humiliated me.”

The Times, 27 May 2007

I never liked him. I thought it was because he shared his name with a Swanse Town player, and I can't stand Jack bar stewards, but now I know the real reason I didn't like him.

disgruntledgoat

mididoctors wrote:

disquieting_museeuws wrote:

Re. Nardello & Simeoni - my memory was of a rider after the finish line consoling Simeoni, captured on a hand-held tv camera. Thanks for the suggestions, I guess it wasn't Nardello, might have been Simoni (driving me mad now because I can almost remember it but not quite).

I remember nardello being in a group of riders protesting to the race commissars about the whole incident.. but this may be them bring brought up on the spitting/abuse charges? he was mentioned by name as well....

I think it was Gibo. He certainly had some warm words for Simeoni afterwards, his major criticism being that he dropped back of his own free will rather than making Armstrong et al work to drop him.