Francesco MOSER

At the 1972 Olympic road race, Francesco Moser placed seventh, a rather inauspicious beginning for a man who would become one of the great professionals. Moser was supposed to be the next Italian campionissimo and, although, he won a lot of races, he seemed to disappoint the Italian cycling cognoscenti because he never won as much as Fausto Coppi. But Moser used his great track pursuiting ability to allow him to win many races with his sprint. In addition, his ability to mount a long, sustained attack was almost legendary. Moser used this to break Eddy Merckx's world hour record in 1984, although that was later changed to a different category because of newer bike technology. Moser's two greatest victories were the 1984 Giro d'Italia and the 1977 World Championship road race. His World Championship was sandwiched by two second places in the race, in 1976 behind Freddy Maertens and in 1978 behind Gerrie Knetemann. He also won the 1976 individual pursuit World Championship on the track. Moser's major one-day victories included Milano-Sanremo in 1984; the 1979 Gent-Wevelgem; Paris-Roubaix in 1978-80; La Flèche Wallonne in 1977; Züri-Metzgete in 1977; Paris-Tours in 1974; and the Giro di Lombardia in 1975 and 1978.