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Uno, dos, tres, cuatro: Petacchi sprints to fourth Vuelta stage win
Alessandro Petacchi sped into Málaga Friday, outsprinting Erik Zabel, and offering up his traditional victory salute, this time raising four fingers – the number of stages he’s won thus far in this year’s Vuelta a España
You’d think some days he’d lose count.
The win is the 21st of the year for Fassa Bortolo’s sprint ace, the 13th in a major tour this season, joining the nine he won at this year’s Giro d’Italia. Indeed, Petacchi’s only disappointment this year is that he failed to score a single victory in this year’s Tour de France, after he tore a ligament in his shoulder in a crash.
Apparently he’s recovered.
Friday’s 172.4km stage from El Ejido to Málaga had Petacchi’s name written all over it: A generally flat profile, with roads dipping and rising gently along the Mediterranean coast, concluding on wide boulevards, with ample room for his Fassa Bortolo finish train to show its stuff.
It was also a day in which the overall contenders – especially race leader Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) - could relax, leaving the stage to the sprinters and recovering a bit after Thursday’s tough stage up Calar Alto and before Saturday’s mountainous race from Málaga to Granada.
It’s not that the peloton conceded Friday’s stage to the 30-year-old Italian – it’s just that he has a solid advantage coming in to the finish. For one thing, Petacchi has one of the few fully intact teams still in the Vuelta. For another, even if he were off form, many of his closest competitors have already quit the race, focusing instead on the upcoming world championships in Verona, Italy.
Still in the peloton, however, are Cofidis’s Stuart O’Grady – also still riding with a full nine-man contingent – and Zabel, one of just four remaining T-Mobiles, after that team was decimated by food poisoning last week.
But Petacchi was clearly the stronger of the three, and the other two men may be focusing their efforts on a tight points battle, with Zabel taking the jersey from O’Grady and now leading by four points over the Australian’s 140.
Despite the anticipated outcome, attacks started within the first few meters as the peloton – down to 149 – left Málaga. One notable absence Friday was Phonak’s Tyler Hamilton, who finished more than 31 minutes off pace on Thursday and is still reportedly suffering from stomach problems. The ailment was originally attributed to a reaction to pain medication, but Hamilton now believes it may be viral in nature.
Also absent from the field were a dozen riders who pulled out during stage 13 on Thursday, including Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Pavel Tonkov (Vini Caldirola) and Juan Carlos Dominguez (Saunier Duval).
But the remaining 149 forged ahead with the day’s “successful” attack coming at kilometer 40 when four men - Kevin Hulsmans (Quick Step), Herbert Gutierrez (Cafes Baque) Josep Jufre (Relax-Bodysol) and Kevin De Weert (Rabobank) – slipped off the front coming into La Momola.
Even the four men at the front believed their chances were limited.
“We always have to try to do something in these stages,” Jufre said. “Even from the moment we went away, we really didn’t believe that we had a chance. You know that there are two or three teams in the peloton controlling the pace and that they will swoop in for the catch when the finish comes close. But you have to try, and you have to hope. We are a small team and these are our only chances to do something.”
Jufre knew whereof he spoke. He and his three companions powered along, but were never able to build an advantage better than two-and-a-half minutes. Fassa Bortolo and Cofidis both had riders at the front of the main field keeping a tight leash on the four escapees.
As the script dictated, the two teams nipped away at the lead as the finish line approached. With 10km to go, the four were caught and Cofidis moved five riders to the front of the field.
“For us, it was good that Cofidis worked a little,” Petacchi said. “Our plan was to stay back until three kilometers to go and then put our team up front.”
And that is just what the Fassa team did, taking the top five spots in a peloton strung out in single file as speeds moved toward 60kph. Petacchi, sitting in fifth position, looked relaxed as O’Grady, Zabel and others fought for his wheel.
The Fassa train powered into the final two turns at 700 and 500 meters from the line. Riding on the wheel of his favorite lead-out man, Marco Velo, Petacchi bided his time and made his jump with 200 meters to go.
It was almost too easy. Despite the fact that Zabel had succeeded in finding the prime spot – Petacchi’s wheel – coming through the final turn and that the German timed his jump to near perfection, Petacchi was never really challenged for the win. As Petacchi accelerated, Zabel could barely match the pace, let alone come around. By the time he hit the line, Petacchi was a good bike length ahead.
Zabel, however, could take solace in the fact that he bettered O’Grady by two spots, taking back the points jersey in the process.
For Petacchi, the win is one of the last he is likely to take at this Vuelta.
“Just look at the race guide,” he said. “There is just one more stage that I could possibly win (stage 16 from Llegada to Cáceres).”
One more and he matches the standard he set last year when he took five last year – the season in which he became the first rider in history to win at least three stages in each of the grand tours in the same year.
“After Cáceres I will have to see how I feel and if I will go all the way to Madrid,” Petacchi said. “My next big goal is to be in good form for Paris-Tours and the mountains here can take their toll.”
That toll will be extracted again Saturday when the Vuelta returns to the mountains during a tough 167km stage from Málaga to Granada. The 167km stage features three ranked climbs – the Category 2 Ventas de Zafarraya; the Cat. 3 Alto de los Bermejales and the Cat. 1 Alto de Monachil. The final climb features an 8.3km climb, averaging 8.5 percent and reaching a maximum grade of 13 percent. It summits at 1490 meters before a 20km drop to the finish in Granada.
To see how the stage developed, simply click our Live Update Window.
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