Gianni Bugno (; born 14 February 1964) is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist.
Bugno was a versatile rider, able to do well in different types of races. He won numerous stages in the Tour de France, and the Milan–San Remo classic in 1990. In 1991, he won the Clásica de San Sebastián, and in 1994, he won the Tour of Flanders.
Bugno's greatest success was the double victory in the World Championship. In 1991 he beat Steven Rooks of the Netherlands and Miguel Indurain of Spain, and in 1992 finished ahead of Laurent Jalabert of France and Dmitri Konyshev of Russia.
Bugno's performance in the Grand Tours, however, was overshadowed by Miguel Indurain. Bugno's victory in the Giro d'Italia in 1990 is considered one of the most dominant performances in that race — he led from start to finish. While he won the Giro in 1990, he finished second to Indurain in the Tour de France in 1991 and third behind Indurain and Claudio Chiappucci in 1992. In a battle in the 1992 Tour, Indurain kept his calm despite Chiappucci's attack in the Alps; Bugno had to chase and cracked in the final parts of the stage. Indurain was quoted as saying that Bugno was his biggest threat in the Tour.
Biography Based in Monza but born in Switzerland, Bugno was considered introverted, pensive and softly-spoken. He entered the professional cycling in September 1985 with Atala. In March 1986, he won his first professional race at the Giro del Friuli. He made his debut at the 1986 Giro d'Italia and finished in 41st overall. In June, he won the Giro dell'Appennino, out-sprinting Francesco Moser. On 16 October 1986, he won the Giro del Piemonte in Novara.
Bugno gained his first major victory riding for the Swiss team Chateau d'Ax on a flat stage of the 1988 Tour de France, having escaped in a breakaway alongside a more experienced Belgian Jan Nevens towards the stage end into Limoges, he surprised Nevens with an electric sprint.
Bugno won the 1990 Milan–San Remo with a record average speed of 45.8kph, breaking the speed record set by Eddy Merckx in 1967. Having gone clear with Angelo Canzonieri after passing Imperia, before riding clear on the Cipressa, maintaining a lead of 15 seconds on the chasers over the Poggio, holding off Rolf Gölz to become the first Italian winner since Francesco Moser six years prior.
Bugno secured a dominant victory in the 1990 Giro d'Italia having led from the start by claiming the maglia rosa on day one, having won the opening 13 km time trial in Bari by three seconds from specialist Thierry Marie. He won a mountainous stage on the seventh day, and the final time trial in handsome fashion to win by 6:33 from Charly Mottet. The winning margin was the greatest at the Giro since Merckx led Felice Gimondi by over seven minutes in 1973. His consistency also saw Bugno claim the points classification ahead of Phil Anderson, with his performance earning enough points for Bugno to top the UCI Road World Rankings for the first time.
Bugno placed 7th overall at the 1990 Tour de France, winning two stages, including the stage to Alpe d'Huez, where he became the first Italian winner since Fausto Coppi in 1952, and the flattest stage of the Tour into Bordeaux. Later that month, he regained the lead in the season-long UCI World Cup with a win by fifteen seconds over Sean Kelly at the 1990 Wincanton Classic in England. He did not surrender the lead again, with the title secured by the World Cup final in October. Bugno also had a third-place finish at the 1990 World Championships in Tokyo, finishing behind Rudy Dhaenens and Dirk de Wolf of Belgium by eight seconds, ahead of Greg Lemond and Sean Kelly.
A pre-race favourite with fellow Italian Claudio Chiappucci for the 1991 Giro d'Italia, he placed fourth overall having been embroiled in a tactical battle with his compatriot that was considered detrimental to both their efforts and saw another Italian, Franco Chioccioli win his first grand tour, with Bugno winning stages into Sassari and Brescia, and in the individual time trial on stage 10, but not having the consistency he displayed the previous year. Having become the 1991 Italian champion, he finished second to Spaniard Miguel Indurain in the 1991 Tour de France, adrift by 3:36 overall. He did win stage 17 ahead of Indurain for back-to-back victories atop Alpe d'Huez.
Bugno placed second to Pedro Delgado at the Tour of Burgos and won the 1991 Clásica de San Sebastián in August ahead of Delgado with a solo attack, regaining top spot in the UCI Road World Rankings from Chiappucci. Later that month at the 1991 World Championship he beat Steven Rooks of the Netherlands and Indurain in Stuttgart to became World Champion for the first time.
Bugno skipped the 1992 Giro to have a clear run at the Tour de France with a team bolstered by the arrival of Laurent Fignon, but the expected tilt at the title failed to happen. He did still place third overall behind Indurain and Chiappucci at the 1992 Tour de France, but having only moved on to the podium ahead of Alpe d'Huez winner Andy Hampsten and long-time yellow jersey holder Pascal Lino, with his performance in the final time trial. Bugno retained his word title at the 1992 World Championships in Benidorm, as he finished ahead of Laurent Jalabert of France and Dmitri Konyshev of Russia.
In 1994 Bugno won the 1994 Tour of Flanders ahead of defending champion Johan Museeuw from a small group including Andrei Tchmil and Franco Ballerini, but an early celebration nearly cost him the win, with his final advantage of 7 mm the smallest ever margin in the race's history. It was considered a surprise win with Bugno not known as a cobbled Classics rider, finishing 43rd at Flanders the previous year.
Bugno placed second at the 1995 Liège–Bastogne–Liège behind a solo Mauro Gianetti leading a chase group over the line ahead of Michele Bartoli and Laurent Jalabert. In June 1995 he became the Italian champion once again.
Post-racing career Bugno retired following the 1998 road season and is now a helicopter rescue pilot. He piloted a camera helicopter for the Tour of Lombardy, on 20 October 2007, and for the whole of the 2008 Giro d'Italia. He ran for a seat in Lombard Regional Council in the Lombard regional election, 2010 for the centre-left coalition of political parties, but he was not elected.
He has remained involved with the Giro d'Italia by being one of the TV helicopter pilots for the Italian national broadcaster, RAI.
He is the former president of CPA (Association of Professional Cyclists). In November 2012, in the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, he demanded that an independent anti-doping body be established. He stated that the UCI could not be trusted to enforce the rules. His son Alessio Bugno was a professional footballer.
Major results
1982 4th Road race, UCI Junior Road World Championships 1985 1st Gran Premio della Liberazione 3rd Overall Giro Ciclistico d'Italia 3rd Circuito Belvedere 1986 1st Giro dell'Appennino 1st Giro del Friuli 1st Giro del Piemonte 2nd Giro del Lazio 3rd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 4th Coppa Agostoni 4th Giro del Veneto 5th Overall Giro di Puglia 5th Coppa Placci 6th Paris–Brussels 8th Giro dell'Emilia 9th Milano–Vignola 9th Giro dell'Umbria 10th Trofeo Matteotti 10th Firenze–Pistoia 1987 1st Giro dell'Appennino 1st Coppa Sabatini 1st Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 1st Stage 3 Giro del Trentino 3rd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 3rd Coppa Placci 3rd Firenze–Pistoia 4th Overall Giro di Puglia 4th Milano–Torino 4th Giro dell'Emilia 4th Giro del Veneto 4th Giro del Lazio 4th Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 4th Giro di Campania 6th Milano–Vignola 1988 1st Giro dell'Appennino 1st Coppa Agostoni 1st Stage 18 Tour de France 1st Stage 2 Tour de Romandie 2nd Giro di Lombardia 2nd Gent–Wevelgem 2nd Giro del Piemonte 2nd Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 3rd Coppa Bernocchi 3rd Giro del Veneto 4th Giro della Romagna 5th Firenze–Pistoia 6th Overall Critérium International 9th Giro del Lazio 10th Overall Giro del Trentino 1989 1st Tre Valli Varesine 1st Stage 21 Giro d'Italia 2nd Road race, National Road Championships 3rd Trofeo Baracchi (with Sean Kelly) 4th Firenze–Pistoia 5th Baden-Baden (with Tony Rominger) 7th Overall Tour de Romandie 7th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx 8th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 1990 1st UCI Road World Cup 1st Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Points classification 1st Stages 1 (ITT), 7 & 19 (ITT) 1st Overall Giro del Trentino 1st Stage 3 1st Milan–San Remo 1st Wincanton Classic 1st Stage 1 Euskal Bizikleta 3rd Road race, UCI Road World Championships 4th Tour de Berne 5th Züri-Metzgete 5th Coppa Placci 7th Overall Tour de France 1st Stages 11 & 18 7th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 8th Amstel Gold Race 8th Grand Prix de Lunel 10th Firenze–Pistoia 1991 1st Road race, UCI Road World Championships 1st Road race, National Road Championships 1st Overall Euskal Bizikleta 1st Stage 1 1st Clásica de San Sebastián 1st Giro del Friuli 2nd Overall Tour de France 1st Stage 17 2nd Overall Vuelta a Burgos 1st Stage 1 2nd Giro dell'Appennino 2nd Circuit de l'Aulne 4th Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Stages 2a, 10 (ITT) & 19 4th Subida a Urkiola 5th Overall Giro del Trentino 9th Tour de Romandie 10th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 1992 1st Road race, UCI Road World Championships 1st Milano–Torino 1st Giro dell'Emilia 1st Giro del Lazio 2nd Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 4 (ITT) 2nd Trofeo Melinda 3rd Overall Tour de France 3rd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 4th Baden-Baden (with Laurent Fignon) 7th Giro dell'Appennino 7th Coppa Agostoni 7th Grand Prix des Nations 9th Escalada a Montjuïc 1993 1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 1st À travers Lausanne 1st Telekom Grand Prix (with Maurizio Fondriest) 1st Stage 3 Tour of Galicia 2nd Road race, National Road Championships 2nd Amstel Gold Race 4th Overall Euskal Bizikleta 1st Stage 2 4th Subida a Urkiola 7th Overall Critérium International 1994 1st Tour of Flanders 3rd Brabantse Pijl 3rd Trofeo Pantalica 4th La Flèche Wallonne 4th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 5th Giro dell'Etna 6th Overall Euskal Bizikleta 1st Stage 4 7th Trofeo Laigueglia 8th Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 3 8th Overall Tour Méditerranéen 9th Overall Paris–Nice 9th Giro di Toscana 10th Clásica de San Sebastián 1995 1st Road race, National Road Championships 1st Overall Tour Méditerranéen 1st Stages 6 (ITT) & 7 1st Coppa Agostoni 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 2nd Züri-Metzgete 4th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 5th Clásica de San Sebastián 8th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 10th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 1996 1st Stage 15 Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 20 Vuelta a España 1st Stage 1 Giro del Trentino 3rd Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Points classification 1st Combination classification 1st Stage 5 6th Giro di Lombardia 1997 1st Stage 10 Tour de Langkawi 1998 1st Stage 12 Vuelta a España 7th Giro di Toscana
Grand Tour general classification results timeline Grand Tour 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Vuelta a España — — — — — — — — — — 56 95 84 Giro d'Italia 41 DNF DNF 2314 — 188 — 29 75 50 Tour de France — — 62 11723 20 DNF 53 — — —
Classics results timeline Monument 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Milan–San Remo 111 92 73 —1 43 142 30 29 44 63 — 138 Tour of Flanders — — — 34 12 — — 431 37 — — — Paris–RoubaixDid not contest during his career Liège–Bastogne–Liège — — 19 967 17 — 48 572 40 — 82 Giro di Lombardia 15 252 27 13 — 20 — — 206 30 —
Major championships results timeline 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 World Championships — 62 —10311 DNF — DNF 12 56 53 National Championships 14 22 462 411 242 —1 98 — 49
+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish
References
External links Palmarès by world-of-cycling.com