Tafi hoping to return to Paris-Roubaix at 52
Italian working on a prof💃essional comeback 20 years after winning the Hell of the Noꦗrth
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Andrea Tafi won 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Paris-Roubaix in 1999, and 20 years on, the Italian is working on a plan to make a comeback as a professional so he can ride the Hell of the 🌃North one more time.
Tafi is now 52 and races intensely in Masters events in Tuscany, and is looking for a special and unique way to turn back the clock and celebrate the 20th anniversary of his Paris-Roubaix victory. Hဣe retired in 2005, with that year's Paris-Roubaix the final race of his career that included 30 victories, including the Tour of Flanders, Il Lombardia and Paris-Roubaix.
"I know it's a crazy idea but I want to race again with just one goal: ride Paris-Roubaix, 20 years after I won it. It could be an impossible dream to make true but I want to try…" Tafi told La Gazzetta dello Sport of his plans.
"I'm just as motivated as I was 20 years ago. I certainly don't want to become some kind of circus trick. I still ride about 18,000km a ꦏyear and my weight is down to 79kg. My Italianꦑ national champion’s jersey from 1998 still fits me…
"I rode Paris-Roubaix th♎irteen times during my career. I won once, was second and third. I always managed to finish.꧂ I think I've got a PhD in what is a special race. I know cycling has changed a lot in 20 years and I know that riding Paris-Roubaix wouldn't be a walk in the park but I like a challenge. It'd be unique."
Tafi runs a cycling clothing business and 'Il Borghetto', a series of six short-let apartments in central Tuscany, where each one is named after one of his major Classics victories. That 🃏leaves him time to train and take his 20th anniversary celebrations very seriously. He has ridden a number of Masters races and Gran Fondo, even taking part in a UCI-sanctioned road race in Hungary in July.
He has already contacted the UCI so he can be added to the anti-doping control pool of elite athletes and Biological Passport for the minℱimum six-months needed. He has also reached out to several Professional Continental teams who are likely to secure a wild card invitation to Paris-Roubaix in 2019.
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"I know what I'd be up against. I hope I wouldn't look stupid but there's not much I can do if I do. I'm just asking to be given a chance, to live out my dream, 🌠to go for what seems like a mission impossible," Tafi pleaded🍌.
"I'v💞e already contacted the UCI. I've made a request and everything should be OK.
"I've had contact with t💧eams in I♊taly and in Belgium, teams not in the WorldTour. There are seven wild card invitations given for Paris-Roubaix. There's nothing concrete for now but some people weren't against the idea. I still need to call (race director) Christian Prudhomme but I know that he knows…"
