Petacchi in doubt for Giro

It has not yet been decided whether Alessandro Petacchi will ride the Giro d'Italia in 2006, Team Milram Sports Director Gianluigi Stanga has told www.RadsportNews.com. "Petacchi has not yet decided against a start in the Giro, a race that he likes very much and that has given him very much, but which in the coming year has very few stages for sprinters," he said.

After the route for the 2006 Giro was announced, Petacchi declared the race "too hard" for sprinters and indicated that he might instead ride the Tour de France. This announcement was heard uneasily within the team, which had assumed that Petacchi would ride the Giro and his teammate Erik Zabel would ride the Tour.

Stanga said that Petacchi's racing program for 2006 was not yet set. "Alessandro would be very sorry" not to ride the Giro, he said. "But he wants to think about whether it would be worth it." Stanga emphasized that he was very pleased with the cooperation between his two star sprinters. "Both are very enthusiastic about riding together. They will support each other. They will both have precise goals, even by the Spring Classics."

Courtesy of Susan Westemeyer