1978 Junior won 9 races (4 in 10 days) almost made to the Italian national team for the junior world championship in Washington
1979/1980 Dilettante won 8 races (4 International). Leader for 2 days oat the “Settimana Lombarda” International road race and 5th overall at the “Giro della val d’Aosta”. Refuse (stupid me) national call for the “Giro di Polonia”. Late September sign contract for pro team Hoonved/Bottecchia.
1981 Stage of the Giro del Trentino and leader til last stage time trial won by Francesco Moser
1981 Won Team time Trial Giro d’Italia
1981 Several top 10 place on Giro delle Puglie, Giro d’Italia and Tour of Suisse.
1981 Top five in Italian Championship and first of the neo-prof, Coppa Placci
1982 no much racing due to surgery on the Achilles tendon
1983 Team Metauro mobili/Pinarello rode to giro as a domestique, no results
1984 Holding green jersey in the Giro D’Italia for 2 weeks til last stage won by Laurent Fignon
We were workin at OUP on Friday,and stumbbled upon your cafe,a big up for your hospitality and complimentary expresso, hope to get a few boyz down on there bikes before Christmas.
hi there,
>
thought you might be interested in my recent travels.
> so there I was reading ‘cycling weekly’ about doing the Tour Of Flanders bike sportive. A race
> full of history and I googled it, 5 mins later and an impulse purchase was made. on friday I found
> my way to bruges via eurostar and onto the hotel cassle bergh both highly recommended.
>
> opened my bike and found that my headset had come apart! bit of a nightmare trying to find a bike
> shop open in an unfamiliar town at 5.45pm on good friday but fluked it. then
> took my bike for a spin in bruges on friday and thought these cobbles aren’t too bad. felt in good
> shape, ate well and off to bed.
>
> woke up early to eat and it was pouring and the flags were flapping………..er great only
> 255km of wind rain hills and cobbles to go. 100′s of bikers all anxious to sign in and ge off
> quickly out of the cold. got captured by belgian radio who tried to give me the impression that it
> was complete madness to do ‘flanders’ on my own. the penny had already dropped and realised it was
> important to find some friends(!) to ride with or the wind would just do me in.
>
> found a bunch of fellow londoners and got to first feed. rain cape on and off all day.
> worst part for me was the first 50Km to ostende. so windy and hardly anyone working together
> effectively. when we hooked back inland the wind was mainly to the side and with the showers made
> it hard work. took care to eat, drink, pee, rest when required but often co-incided with very good
> feed stations.
>
> having french and enough spanish allowed me to tag in and out of groups as needed making sure I did
> my turn on the front. the only issue really was both my knees started aching about 140km (probably
> because saddle mispositioned). blagged a couple of painkillers at a feed station and on I went.
> got lucky a few times, missing crashes in front of me and cars (oops).
>
> now those cobbles………the cobbles on the course are way, way different to the ones in bruges.
> you’ve got big cobbles with wheel sized gaps inbetween that could be a worm hole that takes you into
> a different dimention (e.g. the nearest hospital). so much rain had made the cobbles very greasy,
> difficult almost impossible to get out of the saddle at all. that’s why it favours strong guys who
> can push that gear round rather than pedal floaters such as contador. I appreciated every gram of
> my 82kgs but always kept the cadence 55+ with 90+ on the flats.
>
> however did all the climbs except patenberg, busy so had to get off and the muur which I totally
> messed up forgeting the 2nd part beyond the little square – blew up big style. did koppenberg by
> waiting for a clear run at it (and a very helpful big push from a very helpful big dutchman) and all
> the others including getting 2nd wind and dropping my group on the last climb the bosberg.
>
> tagged onto a pair of local belgians did the last 20km or so back into ninove, by which time it was
> dark. hard, hard day took me 12hrs with stops but got my card checked so happy. blagged a ride off
> some more lovely belgians back to bruges from ninove as there were no buses left.
>
> finally got back to bruges, showered and ate myself silly on ‘chips with fremish stew’ (which could
> have been horsemeat which I love by the way). clean, fed, watered in a very comfy bed with ‘match
> of the day’ on the hotel tv – as near to bliss as possible!
>
> right that’s flanders done, next year paris roubaix or milan san remo!!!!!
>
> for you tecnocrats;- used kuota kom with dura ace 7900 53/38 13/27 mavic r-sys ssc and continental
> 4000gp (NO PUNCTURES!!!!)
>
> take care all,
>
> check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmkC2FynBkU for the koppenberg
>
>
> Julian Cousins
>
>
>
My name is Flavio Zappi, an ex-professional cyclist from Italy, currently living and racing in the U.K with the Zappi’s Cafe’ Cycling team.
Why this blog? Well, different reasons..
I suppose the main purpose is to share with other sports lovers such as myself, my experiences (both past and present), my attempts at improving training approaches, and valuable conversations with professionals or just cycling lovers from the cycling world.
I hope you can find something of value in my blog, and any feedback will be really appreciated!
Hi Flavio
We were workin at OUP on Friday,and stumbbled upon your cafe,a big up for your hospitality and complimentary expresso, hope to get a few boyz down on there bikes before Christmas.
All the best Tom
hi there,
>
thought you might be interested in my recent travels.
> so there I was reading ‘cycling weekly’ about doing the Tour Of Flanders bike sportive. A race
> full of history and I googled it, 5 mins later and an impulse purchase was made. on friday I found
> my way to bruges via eurostar and onto the hotel cassle bergh both highly recommended.
>
> opened my bike and found that my headset had come apart! bit of a nightmare trying to find a bike
> shop open in an unfamiliar town at 5.45pm on good friday but fluked it. then
> took my bike for a spin in bruges on friday and thought these cobbles aren’t too bad. felt in good
> shape, ate well and off to bed.
>
> woke up early to eat and it was pouring and the flags were flapping………..er great only
> 255km of wind rain hills and cobbles to go. 100′s of bikers all anxious to sign in and ge off
> quickly out of the cold. got captured by belgian radio who tried to give me the impression that it
> was complete madness to do ‘flanders’ on my own. the penny had already dropped and realised it was
> important to find some friends(!) to ride with or the wind would just do me in.
>
> found a bunch of fellow londoners and got to first feed. rain cape on and off all day.
> worst part for me was the first 50Km to ostende. so windy and hardly anyone working together
> effectively. when we hooked back inland the wind was mainly to the side and with the showers made
> it hard work. took care to eat, drink, pee, rest when required but often co-incided with very good
> feed stations.
>
> having french and enough spanish allowed me to tag in and out of groups as needed making sure I did
> my turn on the front. the only issue really was both my knees started aching about 140km (probably
> because saddle mispositioned). blagged a couple of painkillers at a feed station and on I went.
> got lucky a few times, missing crashes in front of me and cars (oops).
>
> now those cobbles………the cobbles on the course are way, way different to the ones in bruges.
> you’ve got big cobbles with wheel sized gaps inbetween that could be a worm hole that takes you into
> a different dimention (e.g. the nearest hospital). so much rain had made the cobbles very greasy,
> difficult almost impossible to get out of the saddle at all. that’s why it favours strong guys who
> can push that gear round rather than pedal floaters such as contador. I appreciated every gram of
> my 82kgs but always kept the cadence 55+ with 90+ on the flats.
>
> however did all the climbs except patenberg, busy so had to get off and the muur which I totally
> messed up forgeting the 2nd part beyond the little square – blew up big style. did koppenberg by
> waiting for a clear run at it (and a very helpful big push from a very helpful big dutchman) and all
> the others including getting 2nd wind and dropping my group on the last climb the bosberg.
>
> tagged onto a pair of local belgians did the last 20km or so back into ninove, by which time it was
> dark. hard, hard day took me 12hrs with stops but got my card checked so happy. blagged a ride off
> some more lovely belgians back to bruges from ninove as there were no buses left.
>
> finally got back to bruges, showered and ate myself silly on ‘chips with fremish stew’ (which could
> have been horsemeat which I love by the way). clean, fed, watered in a very comfy bed with ‘match
> of the day’ on the hotel tv – as near to bliss as possible!
>
> right that’s flanders done, next year paris roubaix or milan san remo!!!!!
>
> for you tecnocrats;- used kuota kom with dura ace 7900 53/38 13/27 mavic r-sys ssc and continental
> 4000gp (NO PUNCTURES!!!!)
>
> take care all,
>
> check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmkC2FynBkU for the koppenberg
>
>
> Julian Cousins
>
>
>
a bravo bravo bravo…………….