Sep 13, 2007
Petacchi’s Twice is Nice
Team Milram is in a groove at the Vuelta. They have the big train rolling along and some of the pesky train breaking sprinters such as Oscar Friere are gone. So that just leaves new Italian Sprinting Alpha Male Daniele Bennati to contend with. His Lampre team is good, but not Milram good. That is why Alessandro Petacchi is on his second win in a row. The stage 12 gives Petacchi 19 stage victories in the Tour of Spain for his career. Impressive number, but way behind
Today’s stage finish was the perfect setup for Petacchi with a long straightaway that could allow him to reach top speeds. According to Velonews speeds reached up to 59kph and many non sprinter types joined in the action making for some interesting results. The final was still the top two sprinters left in the Vuelta in Petacchi and Bennati. Tomorrow looks like another sprint stage but Petacchi is shy about asking his team to chase down the breaks as it did today. Maybe after a few kilometers they might change their minds.