Mercatone Uno–Scanavino is a former professional cycling team which was based in San Marino and then in Italy. Throughout the 1990s it was one of the strongest Italian cycling teams in the peloton. The team was sponsored by a chain of supermarkets in Italy.
| Team information | |
|---|---|
| UCI code | MER |
| Registered | San Marino 1992–1995 Italy 1997–2003 |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Disbanded | 2003 |
| Discipline(s) | Road |
| Key personnel | |
| General manager | Franco Gini (1992–1995) Luciano Pezzi (1997–1998) Franco Cornacchia (1995–2001) Manuela Ronchi (2000–2002) |
| Team name history | |
1992–1993 1994 1995 1997 1998–1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 | Mercatone Uno-Zucchini Mercatone Uno-Medeghini Mercatone Uno-Saeco Mercatone Uno Mercatone Uno-Bianchi Mercatone Uno-Albacom Mercatone Uno-Stream TV Mercatone Uno Mercatone Uno-Scanavino |
History
editSan Marino Team
editThe team began as Mercatone Uno-Zucchini in 1992 and was based in San Marino.[1] Riding with the team Adriano Baffi won the points classification in the 1993 Giro d'Italia. During the 1995 season the General Manager of the team was Franco Gini and the directeur sportifs were Antonio Salutini, Franco Chioccioli, Olivano Locatelli and Bruno Vicino.[2] This team closed at the end of 1995 season with the withdrawal of the sponsor: the new team had the same sponsor but was a totally different team.
Team built around Pantani
editWhen Carrera Jeans manufacturers stopped sponsoring the famous Italian cycling team Carrera Jeans–Tassoni at the end of 1996, it was reported that manager Davide Boifava would be building a team around Marco Pantani with Mercatone Uno as the main sponsor.[3] However Luciano Pezzi became the President of that new team, taking with him as directeur sportifs Giuseppe Martinelli, Davide Cassani and Alessandro Giannelli and ten of the riders from Carrera including Pantani.[4] In this way a new team based in Italy was formed with Marco Pantani as the team leader and which rode Bianchi bikes. According to former cycling champion Felice Gimondi the team was built exclusively around Pantani with directeur sportif Martinelli refusing to sign a sprinter as this could have created other objectives of the team. According to Gimondi, in this way the team was conceived similarly to the way the Bianchi cycling team was conceived in the mid-1940s as a team built around Fausto Coppi.[5] In the 1997 season, Pantani finished third overall at the 1997 Tour de France and won several stages including the stage to the Alpe d'Huez. The following year Pantani won the 1998 Giro d'Italia[6] and then won the 1998 Tour de France – becoming only the seventh rider in history to achieve the Giro–Tour double. Pantani dedicated his win to the recently deceased General manager of Mercatone Uno Luciano Pezzi.[7] After achieving this great success, the head of the branch of the Mercatone Uno supermarkets, Romano Cenni, said that the sponsor would remain in cycling as long as Pantani was still cycling.[8] In the 1999 Giro d'Italia, Pantani dominated the race until he was suspended from the race due to a high haematocrit level. As a result, the entire Mercatone Uno team withdrew from the race.[9] The following year the team won the 2000 Giro d'Italia with Stefano Garzelli to which he thanked Pantani for help.[10] Although Garzelli had a contract that run until the end of the 2001 season, he left the team at the end of 2000.[11] When Pantani abandoned the 2002 Giro d'Italia, there was immediate talk of Mercatone Uno stopping its sponsorship after the 2002 season as the team had not been invited to the 2001 and 2002 Tour de France.[12] However the team continued during the 2003 season where Pantani rode to 14th overall in the 2003 Giro d'Italia. The team was disbanded at the end of 2003 due to the probable retirement of Pantani[13] with several riders going to the South African team Barloworld.[14]
Major wins
edit- 1992
- Stage 18 Vuelta a España, Enrico Zaina
- 1993
- Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, Enrico Zaina
- Profronde van Made, Adri van der Poel
- Profronde van Surhuisterveen, Adri van der Poel
- Stages 2, 8 & 18 Giro d'Italia, Adriano Baffi
- 1994
- Giro di Toscana, Francesco Casagrande
- Criterium d'Abruzzo, Michele Bartoli
- Firenze–Pistoia, Francesco Casagrande
- Trofeo Luis Puig, Adriano Baffi
- Stages 1 & 6 Paris–Nice, Mario Cipollini
- Stage 1 Tirreno–Adriatico, Adriano Baffi
- Brabantse Pijl, Michele Bartoli
- Grand Prix Pino Cerami, Michele Bartoli
- GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano, Francesco Casagrande
- Stage 13 Giro d'Italia, Michele Bartoli
- Stage 15 Tour de France, Eros Poli
- Stages 2 & 3 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Simone Biasci
- Stage 6 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Massimo Donati
- Giro della Romagna, Giuseppe Petito
- Giro dell'Emilia, Francesco Casagrande
- Milano–Torino, Francesco Casagrande
- 1995
- Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, Massimiliano Lelli
- Profronde van Oostvoorne, Mario Cipollini
Italy National Time Trial championships, Massimiliano Lelli- Overall Driedaagse van De Panne, Michele Bartoli
- Firenze–Pistoia, Francesco Casagrande
- Coppa Placci, Francesco Casagrande
- Trofeo Luis Puig, Mario Cipollini
- Stages 4 & 5 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Mario Cipollini
- Stages 2 & 5 Tour de Romandie, Mario Cipollini
- Giro dell'Appennino, Francesco Casagrande
- Stages 1 & 3 Giro d'Italia, Mario Cipollini
- Stages 2, 3 & 5 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Mario Cipollini
- Stages 2 & 4 Tour de France, Mario Cipollini
- Milano–Vignola, Angelo Canzonieri
- 1997
- Ronde van Pijnacker, Marco Pantani
- Giro del Mendrisiotto, Beat Zberg
- Overall Giro di Toscana, Sergio Barbero
- Coppa Placci, Beat Zberg
- Stage 7 Tirreno–Adriatico
- Stages 13 & 15 Tour de France, Marco Pantani
- Stage 19 Tour de France, Mario Traversoni
- Urkiola Igoera – Subida Urkiola, Beat Zberg
- Stage 7 Tour de Pologne, Markus Zberg
- 1998
- GP Tell, Marco Velo
- De Draai van de Kaai, Marco Pantani
- Profronde van Surhuisterveen, Marco Pantani
- Firenze–Pistoia, Marco Velo
- Gala Tour de France, Marco Pantani
- Stage 4 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Dimitri Konyshev
Overall Giro d'Italia, Marco Pantani
, Mountains classification, Marco Pantani- Stages 14 & 19, Marco Pantani
- Stage 16, Fabio Fontanelli
Overall Tour de Suisse, Stefano Garzelli
- Points classification, Stefano Garzelli
- Combination classification, Stefano Garzelli
- Stages 5 & 6, Stefano Garzelli
- Italy National Time Trial championships, Marco Velo
- Overall Tour de France, Marco Pantani
- Stages 11 & 15, Marco Pantani
- Urkiola Igoera - Subida Urkiola, Simone Borgheresi
- Boucles de l'Aulne, Marco Pantani
- 1999
- Firenze–Pistoia, Marco Velo
- Roma Maxima, Sergio Barbero
- Overall Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia – Costa Calida, Marco Pantani
- Stage 4, Marco Pantani
- Stage 2 Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, Marco Pantani
- Stage 5a Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, Fabiano Fontanelli
- GP Miguel Induráin, Stefano Garzelli
- Stage 3 Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco, Stefano Garzelli
- Paris–Camembert Lepetit, Fabiano Fontanelli
- GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano, Massimo Podenzana
- Stages 8, 15, 19 & 20 Giro d'Italia, Marco Pantani
- Giro dell'Appennino, Simone Borgheresi
- Italy National Time Trial championships, Marco Velo
- Stage 14 Tour de France, Dimitri Konyshev
- Tre Valli Varesine, Sergio Barbero
- GP Llodio, Marco Velo
- Giro della Romagna, Roberto Conti
- Grand Prix de Fourmies, Dimitri Konyshev
- Coppa Sabatini, Dimitri Konyshev
- Japan Cup, Sergio Barbero
- 2000
- Acht van Chaam, Marco Pantani
- Profronde van Stiphout, Marco Pantani
- Overall Giro del Trentino, Simone Borgheresi
- Overall Giro d'Italia, Stefano Garzelli
- Stage 18, Stefano Garzelli
- Overall Tour of Sweden, Michael Andersson
- Stage 2, Michael Andersson
- Stage 8 Tour de Suisse, Stefano Garzelli
- Mountains classification Stefano Garzelli
Sweden National Time Trial championship, Michael Andersson- Italy National Time Trial championships, Marco Velo
- Stages 12 & 15 Tour de France, Marco Pantani
- 2001
- Klasika Primavera, Igor Astarloa
- Stage 7 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Daniele De Paoli
- Italy National Time Trial championships, Marco Velo
- 2002
- GP Città di Rio Saliceto e Correggio, Fabiano Fontanelli
- Giro della Provincia di Lucca, Fabiano Fontanelli
Kazakhstan National Time Trial championships, Andrey Mizurov- 2003
- Giro del Friuli, Joseba Albizu
- Stage 2 Ster Elektrotoer, Eddy Serri
- Stage 4 Ster Elektrotoer, Luca Solari
- Stage 5 Ster Elektrotoer, Enrico Degano
Supplementary statistics
editNote: The team did not exist for the 1996 Season.
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| NH | Not held |
Notes
edit- ^ The team did not exist in 1996
- ^ The team pulled out after stage 21 after Marco Pantani who was winning the race was kicked out for having too high a hemacrit level.[17][18]
Famous Mercatone Uno cyclists
editReferences
edit- ^ "Mercatone Uno-Zucchini 1992". de wielersite. Archived from the original on 2009-07-29. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "Mercatone Uno 1995". de wielersite.nl. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "News for July 19". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ "Mercatone Uno". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ "News Aug 3 1998, Interview with Felice Gimondi". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "1998 Giro d'Italia stage 22 brief". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "Tour de France stage 21 brief". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "A visit to Marco Pantani's house finds him back at work". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "Pantani Report". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "83rd Giro d'Italia what the winners said". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "Garzelli confirms with Mapei". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
- ^ "A new team for Pantani?". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
- ^ "Pantani closer to retirement?". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
- ^ "Mercatone Uno riders to Barloworld". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
- ^ "FirstCycling". firstcycling.com. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ "ProCyclingStats". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ "www.cyclingnews.com presents the 82nd Giro d'Italia 1999". autobus.cyclingnews.com. 15 May 1999. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Marco Pantani: New court hearing on Camorra's role in 1999 Giro d'Italia exclusion". road.cc. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
