Bartoli fell heavily on a knee in 1999 and Bettini was freed to race for himself. He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2000 – treating himself to a €100,000 Porsche – and a flat stage of that year's Tour de France, from Agen to Dax. He won the 2001 Züri-Metzgete after a few months without wins, beating Jan Ullrich in the sprint to the finish. His success led to a feud with Bartoli. It culminated in the 2001 world championship in Lisbon, Portugal, where Bartoli refused to lead Bettini to a flying start in the sprint finish and the Spaniard, Óscar Freire, won instead.