BumbleBeeDave
04-30-2004, 12:07 PM
From ProCycling's web site . . .
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In years to come it will make a fine quiz question: Which professional cyclist was fined, not for refusal to wear a helmet, not for getting caught on a speed camera, not for non-regulation bib shorts – but for failure to fit his race bike with a …safety bell? For once the answer is not serial non-conformist Mario Cipollini.
Until the first week of April Fassa Bortolo‘s Guido Trenti was looking forward to confirming his status as provider of peloton’s best escort service to top sprinters at the Giro d'Italia. Trenti is in fact best known as the last man in Alessandro Petacchi's sprint "train". Fate, though, was about to intervene in the unlikely form of a Renault Espace: training in Asolo, near his home in north-east Italy, the 31-year-old Trenti collided with the vehicle and saw all hopes of chaperoning Petacchi to Giro glory end in an emergency ward along with fractures to his pelvis, jaw, tibia and elbow. For days after the accident it was not only Trenti’s season which looked in jeopardy, but perhaps also his career.
But the punchline was about to arrive. And it was the ultimate in poor taste and poor timing. Arriving on the scene, local traffic policemen inspected Trenti’s mangled Pinarello bike and shook their heads disapprovingly. No bell. That’ll be 39 euros, 'per favore'.
"I can’t complain," Trenti, whose wired jaw made him unable to speak until two days ago, reflected. "I looked up the Italian traffic laws on the internet and they were perfectly entitled to fine me. The problem is that road bikes in Italy don’t tend to come with bells…"
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In years to come it will make a fine quiz question: Which professional cyclist was fined, not for refusal to wear a helmet, not for getting caught on a speed camera, not for non-regulation bib shorts – but for failure to fit his race bike with a …safety bell? For once the answer is not serial non-conformist Mario Cipollini.
Until the first week of April Fassa Bortolo‘s Guido Trenti was looking forward to confirming his status as provider of peloton’s best escort service to top sprinters at the Giro d'Italia. Trenti is in fact best known as the last man in Alessandro Petacchi's sprint "train". Fate, though, was about to intervene in the unlikely form of a Renault Espace: training in Asolo, near his home in north-east Italy, the 31-year-old Trenti collided with the vehicle and saw all hopes of chaperoning Petacchi to Giro glory end in an emergency ward along with fractures to his pelvis, jaw, tibia and elbow. For days after the accident it was not only Trenti’s season which looked in jeopardy, but perhaps also his career.
But the punchline was about to arrive. And it was the ultimate in poor taste and poor timing. Arriving on the scene, local traffic policemen inspected Trenti’s mangled Pinarello bike and shook their heads disapprovingly. No bell. That’ll be 39 euros, 'per favore'.
"I can’t complain," Trenti, whose wired jaw made him unable to speak until two days ago, reflected. "I looked up the Italian traffic laws on the internet and they were perfectly entitled to fine me. The problem is that road bikes in Italy don’t tend to come with bells…"