The man, the legend, Danilo Hondo (Lampre - ISD)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Danilo Hondo (Lampre)(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Danilo Hondo (Lampre) and Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) chat at the start(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Danilo Hondo (Lampre) isn’t among the favourites for this Sunday’s Tour of Flanders but the experienced German will still lead Lampre and their WorldTour ambitions in the Ronde.
Hondo, who finished in the top 20 last year and 9th in 2010, is aware of the harder route in this year’s race but is using the Three Days of De Panne to hone his form for the upcoming Classic.
Hondo has had a colourful career. The 38-year-old begun racing on the track in the early 1990s, picking up world championship medals including a gold at the track worlds in the team pursuit in 1994.
In 1997 he turned professional with the Argo team before moving to the Telekom squad where he spent six seasons. Despite winning two stages at the Giro he struggled to progress under the shadow of Erik Zabel. Whilst with Team Gerolsteiner, he failed a drugs test in 2005 and moved in various directions - including four teams in four years - before landing on his feet at Lampre. In the last three year, as his legs have slowed, he has devoted much of his efforts to leading out Alessandro Petacchi, while also returning to his roots in track racing during the winter.
In this exclusive video for Cyclingnews Hondo talks about his Flanders hopes and his dream of racing at the London 2012 Olympics.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
