Carrera (cycling team)

The Inoxpran cycling team began in 1979.[1] The Inoxpran team achieved success with Italian Giovanni Battaglin who won in the period of a month and a half in 1981 two Grand Tours in with the 1981 Giro d'Italia and the 1981 Vuelta a España. Battaglin was the second rider in history to achieve this Giro-Vuelta double after Eddy Merckx who achieved the double in 1973. Roberto Visentini had been the Inoxpran team leader in 1983 when he finished second overall in the 1983 Giro d'Italia.

Stephen Roche riding for Carrera Jeans–Vagabond at the 1987 Giro d'Italia, a race he won

Carrera Jeans became the title sponsor in 1984 and Visentini finally won the Giro d'Italia in 1986. At the end of 1985 the team had signed Stephen Roche to perform for the team at the Tour de France. Roche had a poor season in 1986 but bounced back in 1987. When Roche won the Tour de Romandie just ahead of the 1987 Giro d'Italia, he became the number one favourite for the maglia rosa and wanted to be the team leader during the race, something that Visentini, an Italian with an Italian team and the defending champion of the event expected to be alone.[2] This inter team rivalry came to a head during the race when Roche attacked Visentini. Roche went on to win the race and then the 1987 Tour de France. This was the only time that the Carrera team would win the Tour and it would be the last time the team won the Giro d'Italia. Roche left the team at the end of 1987 but returned to the team in 1992 for his last two seasons.

In 1989, Carrera manager Davide Boifava together with Luciano Bracchi and Francesco Boifava founded Carrera Podium, a manufacturer of cycles.[3] From 1990 on, the team rode on these Carrera bikes.[4]

During this time, Claudio Chiappucci rose from being the domestique of Visentini and Roche during the 1987 Giro to the team leader. Chiappucci wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification during the 1990 Tour de France finishing the race second overall and famously battled Miguel Indurain in the 1992 Tour de France. Chiappucci won the Great Italian Classic Milan–San Remo for the team in 1991.

During the latter years of the team, a young Marco Pantani emerged as a contender for the Grand Tours during the 1994 season finishing on the podium in both the 1994 Giro d'Italia and the 1994 Tour de France. Pantani's success was hindered during the last two years of the Carrera team's existence. When Carrera stopped sponsoring a cycling team 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.[5] However Davide Cassani became the manager of that new team, taking with him as directeur sportifs Giuseppe Martinelli and Alessandro Giannelli and ten of the riders from Carrera including Pantani[6] forming the Mercatone Uno team with whom Pantani would win the 1998 Tour de France and the 1998 Giro d'Italia. At the same time, Boifava started a team with Asics as the main sponsor and took with him five riders from Carrera including Claudio Chiappucci.[7]

The team doctor of the Carrera cycling team, Dr. Giovanni Grazzi, worked with Professor Francesco Conconi at the University of Ferrara in 1993.[8] It was reported in the Rome-based newspaper, La Republica, in January 2000 that Conconi was involved with administering EPO to riders on the Carrera team.[9] In March 2000 the Italian Judge Franca Oliva published a report detailing the conclusions of an investigation into a number of sports doctors including Professor Conconi.[10] This official judicial investigation concluded that the riders of the Carrera team were administered EPO in 1993.[11] The riders included Stephen Roche, Claudio Chiappucci,[12] Guido Bontempi, Rolf Sørensen, Mario Chiesa, Massimo Ghirotto and Fabio Roscioli.[8]

Files seized as part of the judicial investigation allegedly detail a number of aliases for former Tour de France, Giro d'Italia winner and World Champion Stephen Roche including Rocchi, Rossi, Rocca, Roncati, Righi and Rossini.[13] In 1997, Claudio Chiappucci told prosecutor Vincenzo Scolastico that he had been using EPO since 1993, but later he recalled that statement.[14]