Aldo Sassi, the famed coach from the Mapei clinic who worked with current riders such as Ivan Basso, Cadel Evans and Riccardo Ricco, is dead at 51 after a prolonged battle with a malignant brain tumor. Even after the shock announcement in April that he had cancer, he still continued to work at the Mapei center and even took on Ricco to give him some credibility on his comeback.
He began coaching all the way back in 1982, starting to help Francesco Moser in his hour record attempt, and then continued coaching and even become a director at the super team, Mapei, for a short while. Sassi was widely known for his strong anti-doping stance and only took on 10 riders at one time so he could train each one to the maximum.
Deepest condolences and sympathies to the Sassi family.