to abandon the race after a crash halfway through the race. As the sport of cycling progressed into one of more specialized riders in the 1980s, bunch sprints became the arena of specialists – pure sprinters like Guido Bontempi, Jean-Paul van Poppel and Mario Cipollini, all focusing primarily on sprint stages, with other riders (classics specialists, time trialists, climbers etc.) aiming for victories in other types of stages. Cipollini holds the record for most stage wins in the Grand Tours as a sprinter; 57, of which 42 were in the Giro d'Italia. Fellow Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (48 stage wins) won stages and the Points Classification in all three grand tours, including 20 stage wins in the Vuelta. The record for stage wins in the Vuelta belongs to Delio Rodríguez, with 39 wins. Mark Cavendish was named the Tour de France's best sprinter of all time by French paper L'Équipe on July 15, 2012. His tally currently stands on 52 individual stage wins in Grand Tours, 34 of which have been bunch sprints in the Tour de France. Erik Zabel won a record nine points classifications: six in the Tour de France and three in the Vuelta a España. Of the five riders to win the Points classification in all three Grand Tours, three were pure sprinters: Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Alessandro Petacchi and Mark Cavendish. The other two were all-rounders Eddy Merckx and Laurent Jalabert. Peter Sagan won a record seven Points classification in the Tour de France. He won three consecutive World Championship, one European Championship, two Monument races Paris–Roubaix and Tour of Flanders. The only three riders in cycling's history to win stages at all three grand tours in the same calendar year were all sprinters: Miguel Poblet in 1956, Pierino Baffi in 1958 and Alessandro Petacchi in 2003. A good sprint can also secure several victories for other specialists, such as Classics riders and GC-contenders. Seán Kelly won 21 stages in the Tour and Vuelta, and the Points Classifications of both races four times each, in addition to his nine major Classics wins. Likewise, Belgian classics specialists Rik Van Steenbergen, Rik Van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck were very successful due to a good final sprint, as were Italian Giro d'Italia-winners Bepe Saronni and Francesco Moser and their compatriot and two-time World Champion, Paolo Bettini. Conversely, many sprinters use their abilities to win more than just stages, and