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Photo Gallery: 30 years of Bettini's best images

By Cycling News

published 30 November 2012

Exhibition looks back at the Italian photographer's career so far

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Roberto Visentini in the maglia rosa at the 1996 Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The view from behind winner Johan van der Velde in 1987(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

A old tifosi watches the Giro go by(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Gilberto Simoni in pink(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Paolo Savoldelli at speed on a descent(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Saronni gets a cheer(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Bettini's first ever race photo: Giuseppe Saronni wins in Monza(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Tony Rominger in pink at the 1995 Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Marco Pantani gets a massage after taking the yellow jersey at the 1998 Tour de France(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Marc0 Pantani on the attack in 1999(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The Giro d'Italia peloton in Pola (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Damiano Cunego rides pastthe leaning tower of Pisa(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

A view over the climb to Assisi (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The 2007 Giro d'Italia team presentation was held onboard the Garibalid aircraft carrier in Sardinia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

A view over the Colle delle Finestre(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The gruppo passes through the lava on the slopes of Mount Etna(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The maglia rosa rides through a field of poppies(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Liquigas leads the peloton on the Passo Stelvio(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

A view of the Amalfi coast(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Alberto Contador in pink(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The Giro peloton passes some trulli in the Puglia region of southern Italy(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Denis Menchov races past the Vatican(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Pantani rides through the snow(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Abraham Olano in the 1996 Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Francesco Moser in pink(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Mario Cipollini says goodbye before the start of the 2005 Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Franco Chioccoli climbs through the snow(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Franco Chioccioli suffers on the muddy road of the Passo Gavia (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Mark Cavendish beats Heinrich Haussler to win Milan-Sanremo in 2009(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Fabian Cancellara in action as world time trial champion(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

An unusual view of world champion Paolo Bettini(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Evgeni Berzin in pink at the 1994 Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Jean Francois Bernhard in the snow on the Passo Gavia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Ivan Basso enters the Verona arena and wins the 2010 Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Mario Cipollini wins in Mira(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Contador close up with the tifosi on the climb to Gardeccia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Alberto Contador climbs to the summit of Plan des Corones(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Denis Menchov shares a drink with Danilo Di luca(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Menchov gets up after his crash in the final time trial in Rome(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Sean Kelly leads in the dirt of the classics(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The Passo Gavia snakes through the snow(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Stefano Garzelli in pink(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

world champion Tom Boonen at the Tour de France(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Maurizio Fondriest in the rainbow jersey with Franco Ballerini(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

A muddy Cadel Evans on the stage to Montalcino(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

A breathtaking image of the Strade Bianche race (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The late Franco Ballerini(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Italian photographer and long-time Cyclingnews contributor Roberto Bettini has celebrated 30 years of life covering cycling with an exhibition showing a special selection of images from his historic archive.

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Bettini has dig through his film and digital archive to find some of his best images and others that tell the story of Italian cycling from the last three decades. The images are currently on display at a special exhibition at Villa Annoni in the town of Cuggiono, close to Milan.

The photos include Bettini's very first race photo, of a very young Giuseppe Saronni winning a race in Monza in 1974 and other images from the Giro d'Italia in the 1980s, including from the legendary Passo Gavia from the 1988 Giro d'Italia won by Andy Hampsten.

Bettini, and more recently his son Luca, have covered almost every race on the international calendar, including the spring Classics, the Tour de France and every race on the Italian calendar.

Bettini captured the late Franco Ballerini's goodbye to racing with a close-up shot of Ballerini's mud-covered face. Other images capture Marco Pantani in action and in more revealing moments such as post-race massage. There are shots of Mario Cipollini's first win while riding for the Del Tongo team and his last ride at the prologue of the Giro d'Italia.

There are several historic shots of the Giro d'Italia maglia rosa worn by Francesco Moser, Evgeni Berzin, Franco Chioccioli and Denis Menchov after he crashed just in front of Bettini's motorbike during the final time trial in Rome.

Other images highlight the beauty and pain of cycling at the Strade Bianche race in Tuscany, at the Belgian Classics and landscapes from the Giro d'Italia.