Roberto Visentini (born 2 June 1957) is an Italian former professional

road racing cyclist Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

who won the

White Jersey Numerous cycling stage races award a white jersey to signify the current leader and overall winner of a certain competition, or to signify the best young rider in the race. The most prominent of these is the Tour de France, where the jersey is kn ...

in the 1978 Giro, finished in the top 10 of the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, and 1981 Giro's, made the podium in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, wore the

Maglia Rosa The general classification in the Giro d'Italia is the most important classification of the Giro d'Italia, which determines who is the overall winner. It is therefore considered more important than secondary classifications as the points classif ...

for nine days in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, three days in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and won the

1986 Giro d'Italia The 1986 Giro d'Italia was the 69th running of the Giro d'Italia. The race started in Palermo, on 12 May, with a prologue and concluded in Merano, on 2 June, with a mass-start stage. A total of 171 riders from nineteen teams entered the 2 ...

. All total he was the victor in 7

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

stages. Visentini was born in

Gardone Riviera Gardone Riviera ( Gardesano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is situated on the western shore of Lake Garda. Twin towns Gardone Riviera is twinned with: * Arcachon, France, since 1980 * Pescara, Italy, s ...

, in the

province of Brescia The Province of Brescia ( it, provincia di Brescia; Brescian: ) is a Province in the Lombardy administrative region of northern Italy. It has a population of some 1,265,964 (as of January 2019) and its capital is the city of Brescia. With an ar ...

, and had a brilliant junior career. In 1975, he was both Junior Italian champion and World Champion. As an amateur he won the 1977 Italian time-trial Championship. He debuted as professional in 1978. In 1980, he won two stages at the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...

and was ninth overall in the Giro d'Italia. In 1983 Visentini joined the Inoxpran team and was in contention for victory in the Giro with

Giuseppe Saronni Giuseppe Saronni (born 22 September 1957), also known as Beppe Saronni, is an Italian former racing cyclist. He had remarkable success riding in the Giro d'Italia. In 1980 he won 7 stages and finished 7th overall, in 1981 he won 3 stages and fin ...

, but ended up on the podium 2nd place. Riding for the Carrera team in 1984, he won a stage in the

1984 Giro d'Italia The 1984 Giro d'Italia was the 67th running of the Giro. It started in Lucca, on 17 May, with a prologue and concluded in Verona, on 10 June, with a individual time trial. A total of 171 riders from nineteen teams entered the 22-stage race, ...

and was in a podium position until very late in the race. This race became infamous because French rider

Laurent Fignon Laurent Patrick Fignon (; 12 August 1960 – 31 August 2010) was a French professional road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984 and the Giro d'Italia in 1989. He is former FICP World No. 1 in 1989. He nearly captured t ...

accused officials of playing favourites by not treating all riders by the same set of rules. Visentini also felt this way making his feelings public. During the 1984 season he also won a stage in

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of the season, it is considered to be an important prep ...

and the

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

of the

Giro del Trentino The Tour of the Alps is an annual professional cycling stage race in Italy and Austria. First held in 1962, it was named Giro del Trentino ( en, Tour of Trentino) until 2016, and run over four stages in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region o ...

. In the 1985 edition, he was in good position to win his first Giro being in the lead for 9 stages when he fell ill and was forced to retire, leaving the victory to

Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault (; born 14 November 1954) is a French former professional road cyclist. With 147 professional victories, including five times the Tour de France, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time. In his career, Hinault ...

. He won the 1986 Giro by defeating racers such as Saronni and

Francesco Moser Francesco Moser ( or ; ; born 19 June 1951), nicknamed "Lo sceriffo" (The sheriff), is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia six times including his win in the 1984 edition. Moser ...

by about 1:00 and 2:00 respectively, and also

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...

who placed 4th. Visentini won stage 6 and took over the Pink Jersey on stage 16 which he would hold for the remainder of the race. In

he played a part in one of the most controversial episodes of 1980s Italian cycle racing: Visentini, who was the racing for , took the pink jersey for the leader of the

general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...

from his teammate

Stephen Roche Stephen Roche (; born 28 November 1959) is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist. In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming the second of only two cyclists to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de Fr ...

after winning an individual time trial. Several days later in a mountain stage he was suddenly attacked by his teammate

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX S ...

, who had ignored the team's order not to attack. The Carrera team led the peloton in the chase after Roche until Visentini was left without any teammates. From there Visentini tried to chase him down on his own but finished several minutes behind the Irishman, who took back the pink jersey. The significance of this is that when Visentini took the Pink Jersey from Roche on Stage 13 it was an

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...

, which is a stage of each individual rider versus the clock with no assistance from anyone and the best rider who makes the fewest mistakes wins. When Roche took the jersey from Visentini a few days later he did so by launching an attack against his own teammate, instead of protecting the leader's jersey for the team. Several days later Visentini had to retire from the race because of a broken wrist. Roche left the Carrera team, which kept Visentini, but he was never again able to compete at this elite level. He concluded his career in 1990 with 18 victories, including the 1986 Giro d'Italia, the 1981

and the 1983

Career achievements

Major results

;1979 :1st Circuit of Faenza :10th Overall Giro d'Italia ;1980 :

::1st Prologue & Stage 16b ( ITT) :9th Overall Giro d'Italia ;1981 :1st Overall

:6th Overall Giro d'Italia ;1982 :1st

Trofeo Baracchi The Trofeo Baracchi was a major Italian cycling race that ran for 50 years. It was created by Mino Baracchi, in memory of his father Angelo who was a great cycle racing fan. Originally (from 1941) an amateur individual time trial, from 1944 it wa ...

;1983 :1st Overall

:1st Ruota d'Oro :2nd Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Stage 22 (ITT) ;1984 :1st Stage 13 Giro d'Italia :Stage in the

;1986 :1st Jersey pink

Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Stage 6 :1st Milan-Vignola :1st Circuit of Florence ;1987 : Giro d'Italia ::1st Prologue & Stage 13 (ITT)

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visentini, Roberto 1957 births Living people Cyclists from the Province of Brescia Italian male cyclists Giro d'Italia winners Italian Giro d'Italia stage winners Italian Vuelta a España stage winners