Early career Paolo Bettini lived with his family on the
Tuscany coast. He began racing when he was seven and won 23 of his first 24 races. His first bike had a secondhand frame which his father, Giuliano, had painted orange. The components were cannibalised from other bikes. He came fourth in the world under-23 road championship in 1996, behind three other Italians, Giuliano Fugeras, Roberti Sgambelluri and Luca Sironi. He turned professional the following year for the MG-Technogym team. There he rode as
domestique to
Michele Bartoli, "a
working class cyclist", wrote Stephen Farrand, "destined to work for others to earn his crust." He won
Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2000 – treating himself to a €100,000
Porsche He then followed with a win in the
HEW Cyclassics in front of Tour runner-up Jan Ullrich, and a win in the
Clásica de San Sebastián. Bettini failed to win the
UCI Road Cycling World Championship despite being the favourite due to a mistake at the end of the race. Having established himself in the winning breakaway, hesitation allowed the Spaniard
Igor Astarloa to break away to win. Astarloa claimed that Bettini had offered him money to relinquish the win, which Astarloa said he refused. A feud ensued, and Astarloa attributed his comment to a misunderstanding of Bettini's Italian.
2004 World Cup and race season The 2004 season started well with Milan–San Remo, but
Davide Rebellin won the
La Flèche Wallonne (not in the World Cup),
Liège–Bastogne–Liège and
Amstel Gold Race. Bettini's disappointments continued with second places in the
HEW Cyclassics, which he had won previously, and in the
Clásica de San Sebastián, which he had won the previous year. The points gained in
Paris–Tours put him in the leader's jersey, but with the last race, the
Giro di Lombardia, better suited to Rebellin, the World Cup was not yet safe. Bettini followed Rebellin throughout the race, resulting in Rebellin's quitting in frustration. Bettini's most important victory was the
2004 Summer Olympics, where he broke away with Portuguese
Sérgio Paulinho for a comfortable victory decided on a last-minute sprint with both. He again failed to win the world championship due to an injury when he banged his knee against the team car at the beginning of the race.
2005 UCI ProTour and race season After
Milan–San Remo, Bettini had an injury-marked start which prevented significant participation in the spring classics, and he had no victories until he got two stage wins at the
2005 Giro d'Italia, where he wore the pink jersey as leader of the
general classification for several days. After that, no more good results until the
2005 Vuelta a España, where he beat
Alessandro Petacchi in an uphill sprint in
Valladolid. After that, he took part in the world championship in Madrid, where he got into the decisive break but did not get a medal. A week later, he won
Züri-Metzgete for a second time. Two weeks later, he won the Giro di Lombardia as well.
2006 UCI ProTour and race season Bettini won the first race of the season, the
Trofeo Soller, which is part of the
Challenge Mallorca. He also won the
Gran Premio di Lugano, two stages in the
Tirreno–Adriatico and the 15th stage in the
Giro d'Italia, where he won the
points classification. Following the Giro, he became the
Italian road champion and won a stage at the
Vuelta a España before winning the
world championship. His brother, Sauro, died in a car accident a few days after that victory, and Bettini was close to abandoning cycling. He changed his mind and won the
Giro di Lombardia in tears. On 2 March 2007, the French magazine
Velo awarded Bettini its
Vélo d'Or as best rider of 2006.
2007 UCI ProTour and race season wearing the rainbow jersey Bettini raced in the second annual 2.HC-rated
2007 Tour of California and made it worth his while by capturing Stage 4 in a sprint finish. He later won the third stage of the
Vuelta a España and finished second in three more stages. Then he won once again the
rainbow jersey of the Elite Men's Road at Stuttgart.
2008 season Bettini's start was plagued by injuries, including a fall at the
Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and a rib broken when he fell on a wet descent in the
Tour of the Basque Country. He won the
Trofeo Matteotti and stages at the
Tour of Austria and
Tour de Wallonie. He also won two stages at the
Vuelta a España, where he said he was leaving Quick Step after 10 years due to a financial dispute. On September 27 he announced his retirement. On 4 November, he fell during the Milan six-day and was taken to hospital unconscious.
Coaching career On 17 June 2010, Bettini was named as the new Italian national coach, following the death of
Franco Ballerini in a car accident earlier that year. He left this role in 2014 to work with
Fernando Alonso on his new cycling team in preparation for its launch in 2015. ==Track racing==