Damiano Cunego

Damiano Cunego

Cunego at the 2006 Giro d'Italia
Personal information
Full name	Damiano Cunego
Nickname	Il Piccolo Principe (The Little Prince), L'Astore del Montello (The Goshawk of the Montello)
Born	(1981-09-19) 19 September 1981 (age 40) Cerro Veronese, Italy
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	58 kg (128 lb; 9.1 st)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist Climber
Amateur teams
1997–1999	Gaiga–Gore Tex
2000–2001	Zalf–Euromobil–Fior
Professional teams
2002–2004	Saeco Macchine per Caffè–Longoni Sport
2005–2014	Lampre–Caffita
2015–2018	Nippo–Vini Fantini[1]
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia General classification (2004) 4 individual stages (2004) Tour de France Young rider classification (2006) Vuelta a España 2 individual stages (2009) Stage races Tour of Qinghai Lake (2003) Giro del Trentino (2004, 2006, 2007) One-day races and Classics Giro di Lombardia (2004, 2007, 2008) Amstel Gold Race (2008) Japan Cup (2005, 2008)
Medal record Representing  Italy Men's road bicycle racing UCI Road World Championships 2008 Varese Men's road race

Damiano Cunego (born 19 September 1981) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist,^[2] who rode professionally between 2002 and 2018 for the Saeco Macchine per Caffè, Lampre–Merida and Nippo–Vini Fantini–Europa Ovini teams.

Cunego's biggest wins were the 2004 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Amstel Gold Race, and the Giro di Lombardia in 2004, 2007 and 2008. He finished second in the UCI Road World Championships in 2008 and in the 2008 UCI ProTour. Primarily a climber, he improved his time-trialing and was characterized by great sprinting ability, unusual for a climber.

Career[]

Saeco–Longoni Sport (2002–04)[]

Born in Cerro Veronese, Veneto, Cunego began cycling as a teenager after being a successful cross-country runner.^[3] He was discovered by Giuseppe Martinelli who also worked closely with Marco Pantani.^[4] Cunego turned professional in 2002 at the age of 20 with Saeco Macchine per Caffè–Longoni Sport, winning the Giro d'Oro and the Giro Medio Brenta in his first season. In 2003 he won the seventh stage and the overall classification of the Tour of Qinghai Lake.^[5]

He came to prominence in May 2004, winning the Giro d'Italia at the age of 22 with Saeco Macchine per Caffè. Cunego's strength came as a blow to his captain Gilberto Simoni; relations between the two during the race were strained when Cunego sprinted away from Simoni to win the 18th stage after Simoni's solo breakaway. La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that as Simoni passed by Cunego, who was surrounded by journalists, Simoni pointed his finger at Cunego and angrily said "You're a bastard...you are really stupid."^[6] During 2004 he won the Giro di Lombardia in October, his 13th victory of the season. He finished the season number one in the UCI Road World Cup, the youngest rider to achieve it, aged 23. He was also the last rider ranked first on the world ranking, because from 2005 the ranking was replaced by the UCI ProTour.

Lampre (2005–14)[]

In the 2005 Giro d'Italia, Simoni and Cunego were co-captains of Lampre–Caffita, but Cunego posed no threat to Simoni, as he faltered during the first climb in the Dolomites, losing six minutes in the day and any prospect of winning. At the time his team attributed his loss to a "psychological crisis" and Cunego said "a great weight has been lifted from me by this defeat." After the race, he was found to have Epstein–Barr virus, and he did not enter the 2005 Tour de France.

In 2006, Cunego finished third in Liège–Bastogne–Liège losing to Alejandro Valverde and Paolo Bettini in a sprint finish. In the Tour de France Cunego was the winner of the young rider classification; he finished 2nd on stage 15 to Alpe d'Huez, after losing to Fränk Schleck, who broke away in the final 2 kilometres (1.2 miles). He also finished 3rd on stage 17, on the road to Morzine. In 2007 Cunego again won the Giro del Trentino and his second Giro di Lombardia.

In 2008 he won the Klasika Primavera and the Amstel Gold Race,^[7] with two powerful sprints against Valverde and Schleck, with victory in the latter propelling him to the top of the UCI Pro Tour rankings,^[7] as he also went on to finish second in the UCI Road World Championships.^[8] He was widely tipped to be victorious in the Tour de France, but he struggled and eventually dropped out before the finish. By the end of the year Cunego conquered for the third time at the Giro di Lombardia and then he ended the season with victory in the Japan Cup, confirming himself as one of the best Classics specialists in the world. In 2009 he won the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali with victories in two stages; later he won two mountain stages at Vuelta a España, which made him one of the favourites for the road race at the UCI Road World Championships. He ultimately finished that race in eighth position.

In July 2013, he was one of 27 former riders and officials linked to the Lampre–Merida team indicted for doping in an Italian court, with a hearing set for 10 December 2013.^[9] In early 2014 however, details emerged that indicated that Cunego might have been one of few Lampre riders to refuse treatment by Spanish doctor José Ibarguren Taus, who was linked to doping practices.^[10]

Nippo–Vini Fantini (2015–18)[]

In October 2014, it was announced that Cunego was to leave Lampre–Merida to ride with Nippo–Vini Fantini in 2015.^[11]

Post-career[]

In June 2020, Cunego was hospitalised due to ventriculitis, an infection of the cerebral ventricle.^[12]

Major results[]

Grand Tour general classification results timeline[]

Grand Tour	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Giro d'Italia	34	1	18	4	5	—	17	11	—	6	—	19	DNF	44
Tour de France	—	—	—	11	—	DNF	—	29	6	—	55	—	—	—
Vuelta a España	—	15	—	—	DNF	DNF	DNF	—	—	33	—	76	—	—

Classics results timeline[]

Monuments results timeline
Monument	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Milan–San Remo	—	—	—	—	62	—	—	—	34	—	43	—	—	—	—	—	—
Tour of Flanders	Did not contest during career
Paris–Roubaix
Liège–Bastogne–Liège	124	—	—	9	3	7	30	7	20	16	35	30	13	—	—	—	—
Giro di Lombardia	—	—	1	29	—	1	1	14	—	27	13	DNF	—	23	33	93	—
Classics results timeline
Classic	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Amstel Gold Race	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	5	6	15	31	43	50	40	DNF	—	DNF
La Flèche Wallonne	122	—	—	14	—	—	3	3	5	60	—	28	69	—	—	—	—
Giro dell'Emilia	—	28	—	9	—	5	13	14	—	—	15	18	DNF	4	53	33	—
Championships results timeline
Championship	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
World Championships	—	—	9	—	—	50	2	8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Damiano Cunego.

• Official website
• Damiano Cunego at Cycling Archives
• Damiano Cunego at CQ Ranking
• Damiano Cunego at ProCyclingStats
• Damiano Cunego at Trap-Friis.dk