Malvor-Bottecchia...

So you already know that I picked up this vintage Malvor-Bottecchia-Vaporella team jersey last weekend (which by the way fits perfectly). Doing so prompted me to invest a little time into researching the team and its riders.

Malvor-Bottecchia were an Italian squad formed in 1983 and disbanded in 1990. During those years, and for all but one of them (1987) Malvor was the primary sponsor. Similarly, Bottecchia supplied bicycles to the team during those years, excepting 1989 when Colnago came on board. Bottecchia again furnished the team with bikes during its final year, 1990. Thus, for the first two years the team was known as Malvor-Bottecchia, from 1985 to 1986 they were Malvor-Bottecchia-Vaporella, in 1987 they were Paini-Bottecchia, in 1988 Malvor-Bottecchia-Sidi, and finally, from 1989-1990 the team was Malvor-Sidi. Throughout that time the team was managed by Dino Zandegu,  a former Giro d'Italia Points Champion, and winner of the Tour of Flanders, both in 1967. The team contracted with a number of quality riders during its existence, including Giuseppe Saronni (1989), Lech Piasecki (1989), Roberto Pagnin, Acacio da Silva (1984-1985), and Daniel Gisiger. Other riders cut their teeth with the team and then went on to successful careers with other squads, such as Mauro Gianetti, Flavio Vanzella, Gianni Faresin, Giorgio Furlan, Marco Lietti, and Franco Ballerini. Still others, such as Czeslaw Lang, Roberto Visentini, and most notably, Giuseppi Saronni, spent the sunset of their careers with the team after lengthy, successful rides elsewhere. Over the course of the teams' existence they picked up a number of significant wins in one day events and stage races.

Counted among those wins were the Grand Prix des Nations, won by Gisiger in 1983, Zuri-Metzgete, won by da Silva in 1986, the General Classification in the Tour de Suisse (1988) with Helmut Wechselberger, General Classification in the Vuelta a Andalucia in 1985 with Fabio Bordonali, two stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana (1989), thirteen stages of the Giro d'Italia, and additional stage wins in the Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie, Tirreno-Adriatico, and GP du Midi Libre.

During the teams first year (1983), the Malvor-Bottecchia riders accumulated ten wins, including two at the Tour de Romandie (Robert Dill-Bundi and Mario Beccia), one at the Giro d'Italia (Beccia), the Leimentalrundfahrt, GP des Nations, Trofeo Baracchi, and the Grenoble Six Days, all by Daniel Gisiger. While composed primarily of Europeans during this first year, the team also included two Australian riders, Greg Clifton and Clyde Sefton; Sefton, in particular racked up a significant number of wins and placings, both in his home country and in Europe.

Looking through statistics for the team and its riders it quickly becomes noticeable that many of them, such as Daniel Gisiger, Robert Dill-Bundi, Sigmund Hermann, and Silvestro Milani, were notably successful on the track and in time trials, before, during and after their time with the Malvor-Bottecchia squad. Their victories on the boards came in national and world championships, and in Six Day races.

Jurg Bruggmann

Helmut Wechselberger

Robert Dil-Bundi

Roberto Pagnin

Daniel Gisiger

Below, as near as I can gather, and culled from results found at cyclingarchives.com, is a complete list of the teams' victories listed by year, with the winning rider noted in parentheses:

1983:

Tour de Romandie, prologue (Robert Dill-Bundi)

Tour de Romandie, stage 3 (Mario Beccia)

Giro d'Italia, stage 19 (Mario Beccia)

Swiss National Track Championships, Pursuit (Robert Dill-Bundi)

Swiss National Track Championships, Points Race (Robert Dill-Bundi)

Ruota d'Oro, stage 2 (Emanuele Bambini)

Tour de Suisse, prologue (Daniel Gisiger)

Zurich Six Day (Daniel Gisiger, with Urs Freuler)

Leimentalrundfahrt (Daniel Gisiger)

GP des Nations (Daniel Gisiger)

Trofeo Baracchi (Daniel Gisiger, with Silvano Contini)

Grenoble Six Day (Daniel Gisiger, with Patrick Clerc)

Griffin 1000 West, stages, 2a, 2c, 3b, 5a, 6b (Clyde Sefton)

Herald Sun Tour, stages 1, 7, 17 (Clyde Sefton)

Traralgon (Clyde Sefton)

Warrnambool (Clyde Sefton)

Horshan (Clyde Sefton)

1984:

Giro dell'Appennino (Mario Beccia)

Giro dell'Umbria (Mario Beccia)

Milano-Vignola (Mario Beccia)

Tirreno-Adriatico, stage 3 (Mario Beccia)

Giro d'Italia, stage 17 (Jurg Bruggmann)

Kaistenbert-Rundfahrt (Acacio da Silva Mora)

Tour de Suisse, mountains classification (Acacio da Silva)

Giro del Trentino, stage 1 (Acacio da Silva)

Coppa Placci (Acacio da Silva)

World Track Championships, Keirin (Robert Dill-Bundi)

Giro dell'Puglia, General Classification, stages 1,2 (Giovanni Mantovani)

Italian National Track Championships, Stayers (Bruno Vicino)

1985:

Morges (Jurg Bruggmann)

Oberstammheim (Jurg Bruggmann)

Coppa Agostini (Acacio da Silva)

Tirreno-Adriatico, stage 4 (Acacio da Silva)

Tour de Romandie, stage 3 (Acacio da Silva)

Tour de Romandie, stage 5b (Silvestro Milani)

Giro d'Italia, stages 8b & 10 (Acacio da Silva)

Giro d'Italia, stages 8a & 11 (Stefano Allocchio)

Tour de Suisse, prologue (Acacio da Silva)

Giro dell'Emilia (Acacio da Silva)

Italian National Track Championships, Stayers (Bruno Vicino)

Italian National Track Championships, Points Race (Stefano Allocchio)

World Track Championships, Stayers (Bruno Vicino)

Settimana Siciliana, stage 1 (Stefano Allocchio)

1986:

Portuguese National Road Race Championship (Acacio da Silva)

Meisterschaft von Zurich (Acacio da Silva)

Giro d'Italia, stages 9 & 21 (Acacio da Silva)

Wielsbeke Criterium (Acacio da Silva)

Tour du Limousin, stage 3 (Acacio da Silva)

World Track Championships, Stayers (Bruno Vicino)

Cogliate (Stefano Allocchio)

Trofeo Laigueglia (Mauro Longo)

Pegognana (Roberto Pagnin)

Giro di Puglia, General Classification and stage 3 (Roberto Pagnin)

Tirreno-Adriatico, stage 5 (Roberto Pagnin)

Tour de Luxembourg, stage 4 (Luigi Furlan)

1987:

Gossau (Jurg Bruggmann)

Tour de Picardie, stage 2b (Jurg Bruggmann)

Chur-Arosa (Helmut Wechselberger)

Niedersachsen Rundfahrt, General Classification (Helmut Wechselberger)

Osterreich-Rundfahrt, stage 8 (Helmut Wechselberger)

Firenze-Pistoia (Helmut Wechselberger)

Gersau (Daniel Wyder)

Rund Um die Rigi-Gersau (Daniel Wyder)

1988:

Trofeo dello Scalatore, General Classification (Silvano Contini)

Giro dell'Umbria (Luigi Furlan)

Wien-Hogburg (Paul Popp)

Innsbruck (Helmut Wechselberger)

Tour de Suisse, General Classification (Helmut Wechselberger)

1989:

GP du Midi Libre, stage 3 (Giovanni Strazzer)

Italian National Track Championships, Points Race (Stefano Allocchio)

Settimana Siciliana, stage 1 (Stefano Allocchio)

Tirreno-Adriatico, stage 1 (Stefano Allocchio)

Tirreno-Adriatico, stage 7 (Lech Piasecki)

Settimana Ciclista Internazionale Coppi-Bartoli, stage 1 (Stefano Allocchio)

Vuelta a Espana, stage 8 (Stefano Allocchio)

Vuelta a Espana, stage 4 (Roberto Pagnin)

Giro del Veneto (Roberto Pagnin)

Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia, stage 5a (Silvano Contini)

Fivizzano (Franco Ballerini)

GP Citta di Camaiore (Franco Ballerini)

Vuelta a Andalucia, General Classification and stage 1 (Fabio Bordonali)

Vuelta a Aundalucia, prologue (Giuseppi Saronni)

Giro d'Italia, stage 14 (Flavio Guipponi)

Giro d'Italia, stages 10, 15b & 22 (Lech Piasecki)

Bologna (Lech Piasecki)

Giro del Friuli (Lech Piasecki)

1990:

Giro di Calabria, stage 3 (Roberto Pagnin)

Ruota d'Oro, stage 2 (Silvano Lorenzon)

Criterium d'Abruzzo (Gianlucca Pierobon)

Giuseppi Saronni, 1989