Ranking: The Best Italian Riders #5

Alberto Bettiol is a rider who has long deserved more credit than he has been given. It ultimately took him winning the Tour of Flanders to grab people’s attention. 

Tour of Flanders was Bettiol’s first career win, but to those paying attention, there were signs that the Italian was capable of such a feat before the 2019 Ronde. 

Bettiol’s third place finish on stage two of the 2019 Tirreno Adriatico should have been an early warning to competitors before the Spring classics got underway. 

The run into the line was explosive with major attacks coming from the likes of Primoz Roglic Jakob Fuglsang and Alexy Lutsenko.

Bettiol was called Simon Clarke as he crossed the line, proving just how absent he was from people’s radars.

Bettiol went on to get 2nd in the stage 7 time trial beating the likes of Tom Dumoulin and Primoz Roglic.

What Bettiol went on to do in Flanders cements him as one of the best Italian riders of his generation.