One of cycling's most legendary sports directors, Giancarlo Ferretti died last week aged 85. He was well known for his strict approach to racing, his very direct way of talking and his long-standing insistence that his charges focus on targets they could actually achieve rather than risk missing out too often.
But that realism and insistence on team discipline didn't just earn Ferretti, born near Rome in 1941, the nickname of Ferròn, the Iron Sergeant; by most accounts, those characteristics were just part of a whole wealth of resources and personal talents that helped Ferretti's riders find their way to spectacular levels of success.
