THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING »

Get the VeloNews Email Newsletter FREE

  Learn More | Archive
Home » Top Stories » Tech »

Battered, but far from beaten, Petacchi makes it five

Published: May. 26, 2003
That's as high as he got them. Petacchi wins with a grimace.
That's as high as he got them. Petacchi wins with a grimace.
Photo: AFP

With or without Mario Cipollini here, Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) is continuing his reign as the dominant sprinter of the Giro, despite being in the hospital for an evening following a hard crash in Sunday’s time trial.

In the process, Petacchi taught a good lesson in courage in this most learned town, “the Cambridge of Italy,” Pavia.

Petacchi opted to start, even though his hip and back are covered in road rash
Petacchi opted to start, even though his hip and back are covered in road rash
Photo: Graham Watson

“I can’t believe I won; I couldn’t even walk after yesterday’s race,” said “Peta,” who finished dead last in the time trial and has now won his fifth stage the following day. “I thought I had broken my hip, and I didn’t even think I could ride.”

Going through a high-speed turn into the finishing straight in third place with a little over 300 meters to go, Petacchi showed no timidity, holding the wheel of Domina Vacanze’s Daniele Bennati, who was being led out by teammate and normal final leadout man for Cipollini, Giovanni Lombardi.

Maybe it was lucky for Petacchi that it was a right turn, as all of his contusions are on the left side. Showing no fear, Petacchi jumped by as Lombardi pulled off, and Bennati simply didn’t have the speed to keep up, getting passed by Jimmy Casper (Fdjeux.com) and Jan Svorada (Lampre) as well. Graziano Gasparre of DeNardi-Colpack, the dominant Italian a few years ago in domestic U23 racing (and one of the only Italians challenging the eastern Europeans taking up residence in Italy), rounded out the top five.

Otherwise, this flat stage that started by tracing the eastern and southern shore of Lake Garda for over 80km only saw one serious breakaway. The break lasted 110km, from km 53 to km 163, and the two fugitives, Piotr Chmieleewski (CCC Polsat) and Sergiy Adyeyev (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), reached a maximum advantage of 3:15 at km 104.

More Photos by Reuters

The break, of course, posed no threat to Gilberto Simoni’s hold on the overall lead, a margin he added to in Sunday’s time trial, by besting second-place rider Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola-Sidermec) by 39 seconds. Both riders finished with the main field, leaving the sprinters to battle out the stage and leaving their spots on GC untouched.

Still in command
Still in command
Photo: Graham Watson

Petacchi, who had never won a Gior stage before this year, said Monday that he already has his favorite.

“Of my five stage wins, this one was the most satisfying, because I suffered so much to get it.” X-rays at the hospital yesterday in Bolzano showed no broken bones, and the Fassa Bortolo soigneur did all he could last night with laser therapy, ice and massage on Petacchi’s large patches of bruises and road rash.

The big sprinter spent a rough night, and he felt terrible Monday morning. “I was not going to ride, but my teammates really encouraged me to go on. It would have been a terrible thing to have quit while wearing the maglia ciclamina (the purplish jersey of the points leader). I would have been very disappointed not to wear it into Milano,” Petacchi said.

Petacchi profusely thanked his teammates and director sportif, Giancarlo “the Fox” Ferretti, for convincing him during the stage to go for the win.

“We started slowly, I felt steadily better as the stage went on, and I began to believe as well,” he said.

Petacchi could very well come away with two more stage wins in this race and eclipse the six-win mark of Cipollini, the most earned by any single rider in the post-war Giro.

After Tuesday’s rest day, a flat stage to Asti could bring Petacchi another victory, as could the short and flat stage 20 into Cantú.

Hey, Mario got his record… will Petacchi go for seven?

To see how this stage unfolded, just follow this link to bring up our live update window.


By the way, we would welcome your thoughts on the redesign. Good? Bad? Indifferent? Drop us a lineat WebLetters@7Dogs.com.

Photo Gallery