Petacchi Abandons



That'll add to the pressure on Zabel (incl to go for green jersey in the Tour) and the team, given that Petacchi hasn't won big big races so far this year and this is the first year of Milram sponsorship. I don't envy Zabel's position.

Apart from the obvious beneficiary of McEwen, I think it'll help the sprinters slightly below Petacchi/McEwen as well because past experience suggests McEwen is unlikely to try to stay until Milan. Especially with this year's crazy climbs at the end, some sprinters like McEwen may abandon way before Milan. Then, those who survive can try for the Milan win. Olaf Pollack should try for this, because TM is in desperate need of a major European win and the last day of the Giro would be nice!
 
"Petacchi said the accident happened when an Euskatel rider fell in front of him [this must have been a different Euskatel fall from the one later on that prompted the split on the Citadel route] he slowed and felt he had avoided the accident when Dario Cioni bumped him from behind and he fell to the pave hitting heavily on his knee. The knee was very painful and became swollen as he rode to the finish."

Above from Daily Peloton.
 
He is on his way back to Italy to be operated on... hopefully all goes well and he will be able to ride in several months. Ouch. Finished the stage, said he wanted to ride on. Whoa.:eek:
 
Powerful Pete said:
He is on his way back to Italy to be operated on... hopefully all goes well and he will be able to ride in several months. Ouch. Finished the stage, said he wanted to ride on. Whoa.:eek:
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too bad he went down so hard, even worse was he avoided the worst of it then Cioni crashed into him...you cant be mad at Cioni though...

the organizers chose Belgium where the weather is always iffy and routes with cobbles etc. I think the GC guys will say a prayer when they are back in Italy.
 
bobke said:
too bad he went down so hard, even worse was he avoided the worst of it then Cioni crashed into him...you cant be mad at Cioni though...

the organizers chose Belgium where the weather is always iffy and routes with cobbles etc. I think the GC guys will say a prayer when they are back in Italy.
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Yeah, watching the live stream as Petacchi et al. were chasing back to the peleton, I could not believe how narrow some of those roads were, crammed with the support cars, and with the rain, it took daredevil handling to weave in and out to get back. The Eurosport commentators were going on and on about 'how disagraceful' this course, in that weather, was.
 
oh damn, that blows dead bear an' that!

i just love the sprint finishes with at least 3-4 guys who really have a chance. and as of late it seemed that the other 3-4 guys were always being compared to ali-jet. as in---''who has a chance in hell to beat petacchi today...anyone?''
 
Petacchi has more guts than I thought. I can't imagine the pain he would have been in finishing the stage after breaking a patella.
 
teetopkram said:
Yeah, watching the live stream as Petacchi et al. were chasing back to the peleton, I could not believe how narrow some of those roads were, crammed with the support cars, and with the rain, it took daredevil handling to weave in and out to get back. The Eurosport commentators were going on and on about 'how disagraceful' this course, in that weather, was.
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Fair enough, but these are the same roads the same number of riders and cars ride on for the Ronde or the LBL. Should not make that much of a difference!

I disagree that the route was/is disgraceful! What the heck, if we want a perfectly safe route let's shut down national highways and have the peloton ride on those... :mad:
 
mitosis said:
Petacchi has more guts than I thought. I can't imagine the pain he would have been in finishing the stage after breaking a patella.
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I think a lot of people dismiss sprinters. Anyone who is willing to elbow and push other riders at 60~70 kp/h at the end of stage is worthy of respect and has a heck of a lot of guts.

Having said that, I was also surprised to learn someone could ride with a broken patella for so long. And then get off his bike and say he hoped to ride the following day. :eek:
 
Powerful Pete said:
Fair enough, but these are the same roads the same number of riders and cars ride on for the Ronde or the LBL. Should not make that much of a difference!

I disagree that the route was/is disgraceful! What the heck, if we want a perfectly safe route let's shut down national highways and have the peloton ride on those... :mad:
Click to expand...

I think the commentators were more remarking on all the road construction - i.e., half the lanes being closed due to construction, construction rubbish strewn all over the roads, etc. I didn't see all this...the only thing I saw was Petacchi weaving in and out of cars in the rain...with a broken knee nonetheless.

Came out this morning he is definitely out of Le Tour.
 
Powerful Pete said:
I think a lot of people dismiss sprinters. Anyone who is willing to elbow and push other riders at 60~70 kp/h at the end of stage is worthy of respect and has a heck of a lot of guts.

Having said that, I was also surprised to learn someone could ride with a broken patella for so long. And then get off his bike and say he hoped to ride the following day. :eek:
Click to expand...

I think its because they tend to have their day in the sun in the long flat stages, looked after by their team mates until the last 200 metres where they strut their stuff - then when the road goes up they go home. Cippolini was famous for it - the big, good-looking well muscled ******* with his arms raised across the line.

McEwen talks about jumping on the Milram train as if its just a matter of riding across and sitting on a wheel but it takes a fair bit of agression and bike skill. There's plenty of competition for those fast wheels.

And racing after a fall. I've had a pretty bad fall at the end of a long days racing and I had to get up the next day and race another 100 k's (I was in a team) and its the last thing you feel like, with gravel rash from calf to shoulder and you AC joint 2 cm wider than it was before you crashed.


So yeah, they are pretty tough.
 
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