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Sig_Arlecchino
Any 80/90's racing buffs like to chip in to try and solve a mystery?
I got back from work today and this had arrived in the post from Italy
Reportedly a team ADR Bottechia so around 89. I used to have a smaller one of these, not a team one but another from 89 so know a few of the identifiers. Cinelli spoiler bottom bracket, it has the handmade Carnielli sticker and the 80th anniversary sticker 1909-1989 so all seems to point to a 1989. It has some other period correct looking stickers on it too, Mavic, Regina Extra and Wolber, and Bottecchia decals on the fork and rear stays that my previous one did not have. I've seen elsewhere that the team ones had external rear brake cable routing like this one. In 89 ADR rode a Mavic groupset and the bottom bracket has the giveaway angled facing as used by Mavic BB's so that's another clue maybe. The old school Elite bottle cage looks from the period too.
And on the bottom bracket is the name stamp of the rider I was told it belonged to, Lietti, as in Marco Lietti who had a 10 year pro career with Italian teams.
It appears as a bigger unit (frame size 60.5 x 58cm - frame is Columbus SPX) he was more of a classics specialist, but did appear to have domestique duties in some of the Grand Tours, and he had a moment of glory outsprinting Lemond to win a stage of the 1991 TDF while riding for Ariostea.
The mystery is from my googling it doesn't look like Lietti ever rode for ADR. He did race for Malvor Bottecchia Sidi for 1988, and in 1989 that became Malvor Sidi Colnago, so seems the Malvor Bottechia's were 88 only, and this frame has a 89 sticker so 88 doesn't seem likely. And I can see no mention of Lietti ever actually riding with ADR.
Was Malvor more of a 2nd tier team? I wondered if maybe Lietti was scheduled to ride for ADR in 89 and they built a frame for him, but for whatever reason the ADR thing never worked out and he went to Malvor instead, and the frame never got used. The frame is in great condition, it was in the hands of a collector for many years so not ridden much, and I suspect its never been raced as it doesn't bear any scars of battle that I can see.
I don't know if the 88 Malvor team rode this classic red and white colors, but if they did they surely would not have done so with a rival teams ADR sticker on the top tube! And in 89 Malvor were riding Colnago's. Of course I'm aware decals could be added at any time, but they look legit and old to my untrained eye. Did Malvor have any links with ADR other than they both used Bottecchia's for a bit?
Only downer is in transit one of drop out screws has been bent, the threads are still fine, so I just need to dremmel the end off and unscrew it and replace that, but otherwise thing looks great.
Any thoughts on if my guess above is the likely explanation, or any other ideas?
My plan is silver 10 speed Campag, but I do have a Mavic BB and Mavic starfish crank, so plan to get some 10 speed rings for that and have that as a nod to 89. And I managed to find a matching old school red Elite bottle cage, so that's on the way :)