Petacchi wins GP degli Etruschi sprint

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Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) won the GP degli Etruschi race in Tuscany on Saturday for the sixth consecutive season.

Petacchi recently turned 36 but won two stages at the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria last week and shows no sign of slowing down.

He used his trademark long sprint to win again, beating fellow Italians Alberto Loddo (Androni-Diquigiovanni) and Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Doimo). Mattia Gavazzi (Colnago-CSF Inox) and Oscar Gatto (ISD-Neri) were fourth and fifth.

Petacchi's Lampre teammates gave him a perfect lead out on the flat and fast finish. He accelerated away along the barriers but Loddo and Sabatini went on his left and almost beat him. Petacchi had to throw his bike at the line but got it by a few inches. Only then could he celebrate the third win of his 2010 season.

"I wanted to win again what is becoming a bit of a tradition for me and I wanted to win in front of lots of my friends. Yet again my new teammates worked really well and I only had to worry about the sprint," Petacchi said.

"I went a bit early but I had the strength to get it. Now I've got two more days at a training camp and then some time at home before my next race: the Trofeo Laigueglia (on February 20)."

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