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Petacchi clips Cav's wings
Farrar still has a shot at the maglia rosa
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Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) has won 164 races during his long career, but his relegation of British sprint ace Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) to second on Sunday was one of his sweetest victories.
Only the 2005 Milan-San Remo and his first career Giro stage win in 2003 — versus Mario Cipollini — mean more to the 35-year-old, who was back in the Giro d’Italia winner’s circle Sunday for the first time since serving his controversial racing ban last year.
“Last year, I had to watch the Giro on TV, so to come back to the Giro and win the first sprint stage means so much to me,” Petacchi said. “This is one of my most special victories because of all I’ve been through the past year.”
The veteran Italian scored the big win by opening up a long sprint to fend off Cavendish in a high-speed gallop coming off the Montebello climb above Trieste.
Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) trailed across the line fifth in the 156km second stage from Jesolo to Trieste along Italy’s northern Adriatic coast and kept alive his hopes of taking the maglia rosa by winning an intermediate sprint earlier in the stage.
Cavendish retained the pink jersey he donned after Saturday’s opening team time trial, but Petacchi struck first blood in bragging rights in the sprint.
2009 Giro d'Italia
- Stage 2: Jesolo to Trieste
- 156km (97 miles)
- Stage winner: Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes) in 3:43:07
- Stage winner's average speed: 26 mph (41.951 kph)
- GC leader: Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad)
- Points jersey: Petacchi
- Climber's jersey: David Garcia da Peña (Xacobeo Galicia)
- Team GC leader: Columbia-Highroad
- Most aggressive for the day: Cavendish
- Previous stage winners/GC leaders
- Stage 1: Team Columbia-Highroad/Cavendish
- Up next: Stage 3
- Monday's stage, a 198km leg from Grado to Valdobbiadene, is another one for the sprinters. Can Cav' get some payback? Stay tuned.
“For two days I’ve been thinking about how to beat (Cavendish),” said a breathless Petacchi afterward. “This is a very important victory for me. I dedicate this to my son. It’s his birthday today.”
Leipheimer, Basso lose time
A dangerous, three-lap finishing circuit in Trieste created havoc for some GC contenders.
A pileup on the Cat. 3 Montebello climb on the last of three laps produced a fracture in the main pack and only 51 riders finished clear with the front group.
Because the split occurred beyond the 3km time limit line, the gaps counted.
Among the bigger names losing time were Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Levi Leipheimer (Astana), who both forfeited 13 seconds to the front group.
“Ivan isn’t the best rouleur in the peloton,” said Liquigas boss Roberto Amadio. “He lost the wheel of Pellizotti, who was with him, and that’s why he was a little bit behind and lost a few seconds.”
Leipheimer’s troubles began when he flatted with about 15km to go. He swapped wheels with teammate Jani Brajkovic and managed to chase back on to the pack just as the pack hit the final passage up the climb. But a crash in the middle of the bunch split the group, and Leipheimer was caught up behind the pileup. He finished 97th at 13 seconds back.
Other notable names losing 13 seconds with Basso and Leipheimer were Yaroslav Popovych (Astana), Tom Danielson (Columbia), Brajkovic and Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d’Epargne). Colombian climbing sensation Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) forfeited 49 seconds.
Lance Armstrong (Astana) was able to finish with the lead group in 42nd and slotted into 10th overall at 27 seconds back.
“I had good sensations and I avoided the crashes,” Armstrong said. “That circuit was crazy.”
Pre-race favorites Carlos Sastre (Cervelo), Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Franco Pellizotti (Liqugas), Michael Rogers (Columbia), Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni) and Danilo Di Luca (LPR) all finished safely tucked in the front group.
Petacchi’s odyssey
Petacchi’s life changed forever last May when he was slapped with a racing ban for high levels of salbutamol found during tests dating back to the 2007 Giro.
Petacchi had official clearance to use the allergy spray, but using too much of it constitutes a doping violation. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list notes that riders whose urine samples show a concentration of salbutamol greater than 1000 nanograms per milliliter must prove that the elevated level is a result of normal therapeutic use.
Studies have shown that in addition to aiding in the treatment of asthma, salbutamol can be used to increase an athlete’s anaerobic power. According to study results, peak power appeared significantly earlier and was noticeably increased after salbutamol use.
The urine sample taken at Pinerolo was the only one of the five doping tests Petacchi gave that showed an excessive amount of salbutamol.
Sidelined by his then-team, Milram, during the 2007 Tour, Italian officials initially let him off, only to lose the case in a UCI appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The formerly dominant sprinter was handed a racing ban, fired by Milram and stripped of all results dating back to the 2007 Giro.
The proud “Ale-Jet” returned to racing with LPR and promptly won three stages at the Tour of Britain last August. But there remained some unsettled business in the biggest and most important races.
Just four days after that humiliating racing ban, his wife gave birth to his first son, appropriately named Alessandro.
“Last May was the hardest time of my life, but also the best. My son was born and I was thinking about him all day. Today is his first birthday,” Petacchi said. “(The doping ban) was a parenthesis in my professional career. Now I am back, I am here and I am winning.”
Wild ride
The 156km stage from Jesolo to Trieste saw an early break by Leonardo Scarselli (ISD), who built a lead of more than eight minutes before a pursuit led by Liquigas and Columbia-Highroad overtook him on the first of three 11.1km finishing circuits in Trieste.
With three passages over the short but steep Montebello climb and a narrow, technically challenging circuit, a mass sprint was in no way guaranteed. Garmin-Slipstream put three riders on the front to control the pace, but that didn’t stop riders from trying their luck.
As the peloton prepared to retrieve Scarselli, Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues) and Andrei Grivko (ISD) took off on the Cat. 3 Montebello climb towering above the glittering Trieste harbor. But their time off the front was shortlived.
On the second go-round, Garmin-Chipotle came to the front for Tyler Farrar, perhaps hoping to make life difficult for Cavendish on the Montebello.
But the attacks just kept coming. Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) was among those to have a go, marked by Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Chipotle), Jelle Vanendert (Silence-Lotto) and David Garcia Da Pena (Xacobeo Galicia), who took the KOM points.
As the pack entered the final lap it was gruppo compatto and anybody’s race. Astana and Lampre moved to the front, with Lance Armstrong sitting in second wheel behind teammate Yaroslav Popovych.
Then a crash split the bunch, and Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) attacked, dogged by Filippo Pozzatto (Katusha) and Enrico Gasparatto (Lampre). The trio took a quick 12-second lead, but the bunch quickly reorganized itself and shot away in pursuit.
Garmin-Chipotle put three riders on the front, and then Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) attacked, chased by Columbia. The escape came to naught, and the bunch began setting up for a mass dash to the line.
Cav’ disapppointed
Cavendish moved up behind teammate Mark Renshaw, but Petacchi was glued to his wheel, and as the sprint began in earnest the Italian shot away for the stage win ahead of the race leader with Katusha's Ben Swift third.
Cavendish was the heavy favorite, but Petacchi opened up a long sprint to keep the Cannonball on the defensive.
“I knew my only chance was to go from long and keep the speed high so couldn’t anticipate my sprint and come around me,” Petacchi said. “Cavendish is very explosive, I’ve rarely raced against him and I wanted to see how fast he was in person. You have to make a long sprint and maintain the speed if you have a chance to win.”
Cavendish took small consolation out of defending the pink jersey and blamed himself for not winning.
“The team delivered me perfectly to the line and I let them down,” Cavendish said. “It’s a consolation to keep the jersey, but that was going to happen anyway. My team did a perfect job today, that’s why it’s so difficult to accept. Normally I deliver, but today I couldn’t.”
Pink jersey still alive for Farrar
Garmin-Slipstream controlled the pace over the closing circuits with the goal of delivering Farrar to victory and into the pink jersey.
Farrar started the stage six seconds behind Cavendish and trimmed that gap down to four seconds when he won the day’s intermediate sprint ahead of Cavendish. But he lost position in the final corner with 900 meters to go.
“I took the final corner a little wide and two guys were able to come under me. That last kilometer was so fast, you couldn’t move up,” Farrar said. “I had the legs today. Our objective was to win the sprint. That last corner was decisive. Where you came out of that corner is how you finished in the sprint.”
Garmin director Matt White said the narrow roads in the final kilometer didn’t help Farrar’s chances to move up.
“It was a pretty technical final. It was all about positioning. Whoever won that last corner won the race. Petacchi was first through and he won; Tyler was fifth through the corner and that’s how he finished,” White said. “When the road is 10 feet wide, there’s no way to pass at 60kph.”
With a time bonus of 12 seconds for second place, Cavendish widened his lead to 14 seconds over four Columbia teammates, with Farrar and Petacchi within striking distance of the maglia rosa at 16 seconds back each.
“We were thinking about trying to take the jersey today, that’s why I won the intermediate sprint,” Farrar said. “To win the stage and take the jersey are one in same. If I won the stage, I’d have the jersey. It’s still up for grabs tomorrow. We’re going to try again.”
Tomorrow’s stage
The 93rd Giro d’Italia continues Monday with the 198km third stage from Grado to Valdobbiadene.
The stage is pretty straightforward until moving into some hilly country with 70km to go, ideal terrain for breakaways. The stage concludes with a 19.75km finishing circuit that features two hills that will see more attackers trying to derail the mass sprint.
The final 3.7km gradually rise toward the line, but not so steep that the sprinters won’t be able to drive it to the line.
