Throwing Darts
Days If Not Hours before the 2007 Tour de France: British magazine Cycle Sport invited cyclists to play darts less than two days before the Grand Depart in London for their own amusement; Pippo was on the guest list as were Enrico Degano, Geraint Thomas, and Charly Wegelius. Also of note was the possibility that the article writer had man crush on Pippo since he wrote: “Filippo Pozzato — tousled blond locks, pretty boy looks, and a certain Continental cockiness; we knew we’d have to watch him. To make matters worse Pozzato was making the ladies’ team swoon.”
Credit: From Cycle Sport via Cycling Weekly which is Cycle Sport by another name.
It’s a Quiet Riders’ Village
2010 Tour de France: Before the stage begins, Pippo [chills / hangs out / relaxes / socializes / all of the above / none of the above / whatever] with ex-teammates Tosatto and Tommeke.
Credit: Via Sporza.be.
Striped Affair
2008 Tour de France Team Presentation: The 2009 through 2011 Liquigas kits have been duller affairs than this perhaps due to complaints about horizontal stripe (mis)placement.
Credit: Makoto Ayano via Cycletime.com.
The Real Prince, Not the Little Prince
Road to the 2009 Tour de France: Prince Albert of Monaco hearts sports, cycling among them, so he was happy to pose with professionals Pippo, Spartacus, and Tosatto, all participants in the Grand Bocoule which began in the itty-bitty principality which attracts cyclists including Pippo, PhilGil, and Vino.
Credit: If you cannot decipher the watermark it says “Tim de Waele.”
From Chateaubriant, Not Chateaubriand
2004 Tour de France, Stage 7: After surviving the undulating roads from Chateaubriant (not to be confused with the wine Chateaubriand) to Saint Brieuc (dedicated to one of those obscure Celtic saints), for 204.5 kilometers, Pippo defeated breakaway companions Iker Flores, Francisco Mancebo, and Laurent Brochard, he of the famous mullet; most of the peloton finished ten seconds behind the quartet.
Credit: Olympia Photo via CyclingNews.
Looking at the World Through Green-Colored Glasses
2009 Tour de France: Uh-oh, more helmetless riding by Our Hero. Call the fashion authorities—quick! We cannot have Tommeke getting jealous because he, er, cannot use hair gel so generously, right?
Credit: Tim de Waele (methinks but too lazy to research this) via Cyclowired.jp.
What Is Off Camera?
2008 Tour de France, Stage 8: Something off camera amused Pippo before the race pedaled toward Toulouse where—egads!—nemesis [now frenemy] Manx Mouth won.
Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.
Tricolore 3.0
2009 Tour de France, Stage 15: For one stage—and one stage only!—Pippo appeared in horizontal Tricolore stripes before the Pretty Committee could issue complaints about its “stripal unorthodoxy.”
Credit: Roberto Bettini via Maglia Rosa.
