By Martin Gough BBC Sport Online

It was appropriate that Mario Cipollini should announce his retirement during the first week of the Tour de France.

The Italian has had several run-ins with Tour organisers.

But now he has changed his mind about quitting, he has a chance to leave yet another mark on the race that has in many ways defined his career.

For much of the last decade, the mercurial Italian has been a major figure in the world's biggest bike race.

Cipollini goes back on retirement

The man known to fans as the Lion King roared through the opening stages of the Tour, usually run on the flat in the north of France.

Cipollini announces retirement

His devastating finishing sprint and flamboyant style enlivened the race while most of its participants were waiting for the real race to begin in the Alps and Pyrenees.

Cipollini enjoyed to the full his time in the spotlight

Race officials were unimpressed, and his battle with Tour organisers continued, with the Italian granted no favours over the last two seasons.

Cipollini missed the 2000 Tour after cracking two ribs in a training fall, but the following year Saeco were denied a wildcard invitation which would normally be given to such a famous team.

Saeco returned this year but, despite the 35-year-old Cipollini being in arguably the best form of his life, his new Acqua e Sapone team were passed over for the final slot.

"I am fed up with being treated as a mediocre cyclist by everyone, even by the media," Cipollini told Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport.

As was made of Cipo's shorts as his speed

"No-one came to my defence in the dispute with Leblanc, the chief of the Tour de France, who decided not to invite my team."

There have been suggestions this season that the face of cycling is changing.

Certainly the "Red Train" of the Saeco team, that once dominated the front of each flat stage, is no longer dominant.

And the bright pink jerseys of Telekom have shown less control than in the past in support of green jersey favourite Erik Zabel.

Although the sport has undergone a purge of drug-use over the last three years, and rumours have surrounded every successful cyclist, Cipollini has never fallen on the wrong side of testers.

But at least with Cipollini's latest pledge to have another go at the Tour, the sport's most important race will be able to enjoy one of its biggest stars for just a little bit longer.