What’s better than a jar of Nutella? A monster-sized jar of Nutella. And what’s better than a monster-sized jar of Nutella? One that has your own name on it, as proudly displayed here by Dario Cataldo, currently in Spain sporting the azzurro of the Italian national team for the UCI Road World Championships.
#Ferrero can't choice a better way to give positive moral to Italians riders for world's championship in #ponferrada pic.twitter.com/GUUoQtJ5Kr
— Dario Cataldo (@DarioCataldo) September 23, 2014
The Team Sky rider – and the rest of his team mates with the national squad – was presented with the giant jar of hazelnut chocolate spread by Ferrero, the company that makes Nutella, and which has long been a supporter of Italian cycling, including sponsoring the leader’s jersey at the Giro d’Italia for a number of years through its Estathé brand.
In May 2011, the second stage of that year’s Giro began at Ferrero’s factory in Alba. Piedmont, and was dedicated to the memory of Pietro Ferrero. The 47-year-old heir to the family-owned business of which he was joint managing director had died of a heart attack the previous month while cycling in South Africa.
Nutella is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List. That may change if Cataldo scoffs the jar tonight and pulls off a surprise win in tomorrow’s time trial…
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.