Early-to-mid-2000s Velcro-fastening garment from the famous Italian team
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A Pearl Izumi-made Fassa Bortolo race rain jacket on eBay(Image credit: eBay / chrihea_1982)
The rain jacket – made using waterproof and breathable eVent fabric – was made for the Fassa Bortolo squad for racing and training (Image credit: eBay / chrihea_1982)
The fastening doesn’t use a zip, and instead uses Velcro strips for ease of putting it on and off during racing(Image credit: eBay / chrihea_1982)
Fabio Baldato (left) in a Fassa Bortolo jacket very similar to the one available here on eBay at the 2001 Paris-Roubaix(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Our thanks to Cyclingnews reader Craig Randall, who alerted us to this listing on eBay of a 2003, or earlier, Fassa Bortolo team race rain jacket, complete with a main Velcro fastening – no zip – for ease of use when on the bike.
The Fassa Bortolo team – whose sponsor was an Italian building materials company – was in existence from 2000 to 2005. It was managed by 'The Iron Sergeant' – Giancarlo Ferretti – and over the years featured riders including Fabian Cancellara, Filippo Pozzato and the late Frank Vandenbroucke, as well as a 21-year-old Vincenzo Nibali in the team's final year.
Our reader, Craig, suggested that this jacket could have once belonged to US rider Tom Danielson, due to the fact that the seller is in Colorado, where Danielson hails from. A read of the seller's description indeed says as much. However, Danielson rode for Fassa Bortolo during the 2004 season, when the team's kit was supplied by Nalini, while Pearl Izumi's last year as kit supplier was 2003 – although Danielson could have easily been sent some 2003 kit at the end of that season.
He went on to join compatriot Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel team in 2005, before joining Jonathan Vaughters' Garmin-Chipotle set-up in 2008, where he remained until the premature end to his career in 2015.
In 2012, Danielson admitted to the US Anti-Doping Agency – as part of their investigation into Armstrong – that he had doped during his time with Discovery Channel, and he underwent a six-month doping ban from September 2012 to March 2013. Then, in August 2015, Danielson announced that he'd tested positive for testosterone in an out-of-competition test, but denied having doped. However, his contract with what had by then become the Cannondale-Garmin team was not renewed, and he retired at the end of the season.
Although this size XS rain jacket doesn't boast the Fassa Bortolo team's famed blue-and-white 'wave' design – which many consider to be one of the nicest kit designs of modern times, and which was very similar to the kit worn by today's Top Girls Fassa Bortolo women's team – it's still a very fine piece of rare, pro-level kit, for which the seller is asking US$100 (£80).
Fabio Baldato (left) in a Fassa Bortolo jacket very similar to the one available here on eBay at the 2001 Paris-Roubaix (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
We're constantly on the lookout for unique and rare cycling relics on eBay. If you have any suggestions or leads, please send them to cyclingnews@cyclingnews.com with 'eBay Finds' in the subject line.
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