Cipollini Sex Tape Scandal Erupts as Wife Breaks Silence After 24-Hour Marital Crisis
More than five years after it was recorded, a two-minute private audio clip featuring cycling legend Mario Cipollini has detonated across Italian social media, reigniting long-standing allegations of domestic turmoil and forcing his wife, former model Sabrina Landucci, to issue her first public statement in the midst of what sources close to the couple describe as the most serious crisis in their marriage since 2021.
The recording, dated September 2020 and authenticated by three separate Italian sports journalists who received it independently, captures the 57-year-old former sprint king in an unmistakably agitated state discussing sexual matters with an unidentified woman.
In the clip, Cipollini can be heard saying, “I need it every day, twice, three times… I’m like a lion in a cage when I don’t have it,” before the conversation turns graphically explicit.
What has shocked the public most, however, is the cold dismissal of his wife’s emotional state: “She cries, she screams, but I don’t care anymore… I am also human because I still have a little bit of humanity left, but she…” The sentence trails off, yet the contempt in his tone is unmistakable.
The leak surfaced on Tuesday evening, less than forty-eight hours after Cipollini was rushed to hospital in Lucca with heart complications that his management initially described as “stress-related.” Medical sources at San Luca Hospital confirmed the 1999 world champion and 2002 Milan–San Remo winner spent several hours under observation before being discharged Wednesday morning.
Although no official link has been established between the health scare and the domestic situation, friends of Landucci say the timing is “no coincidence.”
By Wednesday afternoon, Sabrina Landucci, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight since marrying Cipollini in 2016, released a brief but devastating statement through her lawyer: “After years of silence out of respect for our family, I find myself forced to speak because certain truths can no longer be hidden.
I have endured humiliation, infidelity, and emotional violence for too long. The man the world applauded on the Via Roma is not the same man who shares my home. I am gathering the strength to protect myself and my dignity.”
The reaction within the Italian cycling community has been volcanic. The hashtag #CipolliniVergogna (Cipollini Shame) trended nationwide within hours, while former teammates and rivals expressed everything from stunned disbelief to barely concealed satisfaction.
“Super Mario always lived like the rules didn’t apply to him,” said one retired Italian pro who asked to remain anonymous. “Winning 42 Giro stages apparently convinced him he could win at everything, even destroying a woman who stood by him through the darkest moments of his life.”
Those darkest moments are well documented. Cipollini’s career ended abruptly in 2005 amid doping suspicions that were never proven, followed by financial ruin, the tragic death of his first wife in 2007, and a long battle with depression.
Landucci, 18 years his junior, was credited by many with pulling the Tuscan superstar out of that spiral. Their 2016 wedding in Versilia, attended by half the Italian peloton, was portrayed as the ultimate redemption story.
Yet whispers of trouble have persisted.
In 2021, Landucci briefly left the marital home in Lucca following what Italian gossip magazines called “repeated betrayals.” The couple reconciled weeks later, with Cipollini posting a now-deleted Instagram photo of the two embracing under the caption “Love always wins.” Four years on, that image has been widely recirculated with mocking captions.
The leaked recording adds a brutal new chapter to a saga that many thought had quieted.
Forensic audio experts consulted by La Gazzetta dello Sport confirmed the voice matches known samples of Cipollini’s speech patterns, while metadata places the file’s creation firmly in September 2020 – the same period when Landucci was reportedly seeking psychological help for anxiety and sleep disorders.
As of Thursday evening, Cipollini himself has remained silent. His long-time agent, Enrico Pieri, issued a terse “no comment” when approached outside the rider’s villa in Montecatini Terme, where neighbors reported seeing removal vans earlier in the day.
Sources inside the property claim Landucci has already moved personal belongings to an undisclosed location in northern Italy.
The scandal has also reignited debate about the culture of silence that long protected cycling’s biggest stars. Women’s rights activists have seized on Landucci’s statement to highlight how even high-profile partners of sporting icons can find themselves trapped in cycles of emotional abuse with nowhere to turn.
“She stayed quiet to protect his legend,” wrote prominent Italian feminist journalist Giulia Blasi on X. “Today that legend lies in pieces, and rightly so.”
For a man whose nickname “Il Re Leone” (The Lion King) once embodied raw power and unapologetic charisma, the fall has been spectacular.
From the champagne-soaked podiums of the early 2000s to a leaked bedroom conversation that strips away every last shred of glamour, Mario Cipollini’s roar has finally been reduced to a wounded growl – and this time, there may be no sprint finish to save him.
