Laurent Lafitte’s Explosive Comment on Mario Cipollini Sparks Fury and Legal Threat
In a night already heavy with emotion following the sudden and critical hospitalization of former Formula 1 driver Jean Alesi, the cycling world was hit by a second bombshell shortly after 2 a.m. French time.
Actor and comedian Laurent Lafitte, known for his sharp tongue and his annual hosting of the César Awards, posted a short but incendiary message on Instagram that has sent shockwaves across the sport.
While millions of fans were still praying for Jean Alesi, Lafitte chose that exact moment to reopen one of cycling’s darkest and most painful chapters: the violent marriage of sprint legend Mario Cipollini and his ex-wife Sabrina Landucci.
Beneath a black-and-white photo of Landucci taken during the 2008 trial, the 52-year-old actor wrote: “He’s a bastard, he deserved it… What he did to Sabrina was a crime. He never deserved to be a husband or a father, and he tarnished the image of cycling forever.”
The comment, posted without context and without tagging anyone, was immediately understood by those familiar with the case.
Between 2000 and 2005, Sabrina Landucci accused Cipollini of repeated physical and psychological violence, threats with a gun, forced abortions, and years of terror behind the closed doors of their luxurious Tuscan villa.
Cipollini always denied the most serious allegations, claiming the couple had a “passionate Mediterranean relationship.” He was nevertheless convicted in 2010 of ill-treatment and threats, receiving a suspended sentence of one year and eight months.
The Italian press at the time largely sided with “Super Mario,” portraying Landucci as an unstable woman seeking revenge after the breakup.
Fifteen years later, the wound has never fully healed. Sabrina Landucci, now 53, has lived far from the spotlight in Liguria, raising the couple’s two daughters alone. Cipollini, retired since 2008, has rebuilt a golden post-career as a brand ambassador, television pundit, and socialite, rarely mentioning his past.
Laurent Lafitte’s eight-line post exploded in minutes. Within an hour it had been shared more than 80,000 times and generated a storm of reactions. Many fans of the 1999 world champion and winner of 42 Giro stages expressed outrage.
“Who the hell is Laurent Lafitte to judge a legend?” wrote one. “Delete this coward,” demanded another. Hashtags such as #RispettoPerCipollini and #LafitteVergognati quickly trended in Italy. But at the same time, thousands of women—and men—who had followed the Landucci case applauded the actor’s courage.
“Finally someone says it out loud,” commented former professional cyclist Clara Hughes. “Thank you Laurent, some truths must not be buried with glory.”
The situation escalated dramatically at 2:27 a.m. when Cipollini’s long-time lawyer, Giovanni Rossi, sent Laurent Lafitte a formal legal warning via certified email and simultaneously published the text on his X account. The message was exactly 21 words long and written in capital letters:
“RETRACT YOUR DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS IMMEDIATELY OR FACE CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PROCEEDINGS FOR AGGRAVATED DEFAMATION. YOU HAVE UNTIL 12:00 TOMORROW.”
The ultimatum, cold and surgical, instantly turned the affair into a full-blown media crisis. Italian television channels interrupted their late-night programming to read the lawyer’s text live. In France, BFM TV and L’Équipe devoted emergency segments to what was now being called “the Lafitte affair.”
By dawn, the actor had not deleted his post, but he added a short clarification: “I spoke as a man and as a father. The court judgments exist. The suffering of Sabrina and her daughters is real. I maintain every word.” He then disabled comments and went silent.
As of 9 a.m., the post had reached 1.4 million likes and the split remains brutal.
A YouGov flash poll conducted in Italy this morning shows 58% of respondents consider Lafitte’s words “unacceptable,” while 33% believe “he simply told the truth that everyone has forgotten.” Among women under 35, approval of the actor’s stance rises to 67%.
Mario Cipollini himself has not spoken. Sources close to the former sprinter, who is currently in Dubai for a luxury event, say he is “devastated and furious” and spent the night on the phone with his legal team.
Sabrina Landucci, contacted by RAI, refused to comment but reportedly told a friend: “I never asked anyone to speak for me. But I’m tired of pretending it never happened.”
What began as an impulsive midnight post has reopened a fracture that cycling thought it had cauterized long ago: the one between the myth of the invincible champion and the reality of a man convicted of domestic violence.
Laurent Lafitte, whether he wins or loses the legal battle that now seems inevitable, has forced the sport to look once again at the shadows behind its brightest stars.
At midday, as the clock ticks toward the ultimatum deadline, the world of cycling—like that of Formula 1 a few hours earlier—holds its breath, caught between admiration for its heroes and the uncomfortable truth that some legends carry scars they never asked to show.
