OSE LUIS ROCA/AFP/Getty Images
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.
(AFP/Jose Luis Roca)
Oh, AleJet. Your afterburners have not roared in a while. Not since the ban from the Tour de France for Sabutimol has AleJet been able to show the rest of the peloton the backside of his shorts. Not until today. After being involved in a doping issue that combined with Zabel’s EPO admission sent the Milram team in a tailspin, Petacchi is racing and winning stages in Grand Tours. Early on in the Vuelta Petacchi was only a spectator with a good seat. Lampre Sprinter Daniele Bennati was coming into his own with two stage wins in the Tour and one the the early stages of the Vuelta in front of Petacchi himself.
Now it looks like Petacchi is getting back the form with a big win in a Grand Tour. This could help ease some of the pain of the doping issues faced during the summer.
(photo from ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)
No Ale-Jet putting on the afterburners in the sprint stages this year. The high levels of Salbutamol
during the Giro caused a non-negative test result. Milram suspended Petacchi pending the outcome of the case. Today Ettore Torri a CONI anti-doping prosecutor recommended to a one year ban for Petacchi to the Italian Cycling Fedaration.
This ruling has cost Petacchi his place in the Tour and possibly at next years Giro and Tour also depending on when the suspension is set to begin and of the Pro Tour code of ethics is attached to this punishment. That would mean that Petacchi could not race in ProTour events for two years after his one year suspension is finished.
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(Alessandro Petacchi of Fassa Bortolo wins in 2005)
Scroll to the end for the full start list for Milan-San Remo from tuttobiciweb.com
Filippo Pozzato gets the number one for being defending champ. Danilo DiLuca will not be lining up at the start due to the flu. Liquigas have a strong lineup featureing Enrico Gasparotto and Franco Pellizotti.
Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini will be ready, but their recent form does not indicate that they will put in a spectacular performance. Bettini and Boonen are “gamer” type riders who get up for the big races. So it will not be a surprise to see these two in a good position on the Via Roma. I would not bet against the killer “B”s.
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Alessandro Petacchi si the King of the Etruscans. This makes no sense unless you are talking about the Gp Costa degli Etruschi one of the first races of the season in Italy. Alessandro Petacchi won the race for the third consecutive year and for his 120th win overall. Petacchi did have the usual bunch of Italian sprinters that he is able to beat. Riders such as Bennati and Balducci are a challenge, but rarely are they able to beat AleJet in a sprint.
Even though Petacchi was unable to get a win vs main rival Tom Boonen in the Tour de Qatar, it is no worry to him or his sponsor Milram. Races such as Etruschi, Milan San Remo and the Giro are where the wins matter most, and Petacchi is usually able to come up with top results.
Gp Costa degli Etruschi Results:
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita-Mrm)
2 Gabriele Balducci (Ita-Asa)
3 Daniele Bennati (Ita-Lam)
4 Robert Hunter (Rsa-Bar)
5 Giosue’ Bonomi (Ita-Bar)
6 Crescenzo D’amore (Ita-Otc)
7 Kristofz Szchawinsky (Pol-Mie)
8 Francesco Chicchi (Ita-Liq)
9 Jochen Summer (Aut-Elk)
10 Paride Grillo (Ita-Pan)
Tom Boonen is clearly a step ahead in the first face-off of the season winning four stages in the Tour of Qatar. Boonen took the bunch sprint over Petacchi three times and was able to get into a break and avoid cross winds for a fourth stage win. Boonen missed the podium only once when Greg Van Avermaet took the sprint win from a breakaway that managed to hold off the bunch gallop in stage five.
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(pic from letour.fr)
The sprinters battle is leaning heavily to Tom Boonen as he took his second consecutive stage win ahead of arch-rival super sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. The sprint was almost an exact repeat of yesterday’s stage win minus the brutal crash by Tom Steels which resulted in a broken collarbone.
The two wins so early in the season don’t count for much except to help size up the competition as Boonen explains:
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Boonen Congratulates Team: pic from letour.fr
The “battle of sprinters” is taking shape as Tom Boonen took the first round in the Tour of Qatar. Boonen took the overall lead after winning the stage beating Alessandro Petacchi in a mass gallup to the line.
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The Tour of Qatar is the first showdown between Alessandro Petacchi and Tom Boonen. Last year the two had some head to head battles leading up to the first big classic of the year. Milan San-Remo was supposed to be a showdown of the two sprinters, but Boonen’s Quick-Step teammate spoiled the battle with a brilliant late attack to win the Italian Classic.
This year there is not as much fanfare between the two super sprinters. AleJet is coming back from injuries sustained in the Giro and then a broken finger that derailed his fall campaign. Tom Boonen is shaken up by the recent doping allegations against his team director Patrick Lefevre and the doping confession of Johan Museeuw. Tough times for Boonen and he does not even feel like racing as he starts the new season.
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David Millar completed his comeback from a two year drug suspension by winning the stage 14 time-trial stage. Millar beat TT specialist Fabian Cancellara by a split second to claim the win. Millar made a point to say that you can win clean in this sport.
Those that use the Millar line to determine who dopes and doesn’t dope based on who beats David Millar can now declare the whole Vuelta clean.
Peta Punch
Alessandro Petacchi was ready to make his comeback on stage 15. He ended up farther back than he hoped and was so Po’d by the loss that he punched the team bus. Well, Peta reacted like anyone trying to punch Superman in the gut. His finger is fractured and that may mean some more healing time for AleJet.
Vino Vanishes for Drug Testers
When the drug testers come calling, you better be there. Vino and Kazak pal Kasheckin missed out on the drug testing when they decided to take the team bus. When the drug testers came called Vino and Kash were 80km away with a 10am start not too far off. No word on the fallout of missing the tests, but this is not what Astana need as they try to put the Operation Puerto fallout behind them and start as a fresh team.
