Petacchi notches up Vuelta stage win

Alessandro Petacchi has added a Vuelta a España stage victory to his two stage wins and green jersey at this year’s Tour de France to prove he is still one of the world’s best sprinters at the age of 36.

The Lampre-Farnese Vini rider was given a perfect lead out by his teammates and then got the jump on HTC-Columbia's Mark Cavendish. The Manxman never had the speed to challenge Petacchi. Saxo Bank's JJ Haedo made a late push for third over Andreas Stauff of Quick Step, with Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) fifth.

Cavendish did however score enough points to take the green points jersey from the shoulders of Igor Anton. He leads the classification by three points over Garmin-Transitions' Tyler Farrar.

The race leader Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) had another strong finish, this time netting tenth place to secure his time in the jersey for another day.

It was Petacchi’s 20th career stage victory at the Vuelta

“I’m happy to have won. After the Tour de France I’ve had one of the worse periods of my career. I’ve spent more time with my solicitor than my family and it’s been difficult,” Petacchi said, referring to the serious ongoing doping investigation in Italy that first emerged in the final week of the Tour de France.

Petacchi is under investigation for alleged use of banned oxygen transporter Pfc and albumin but has still to be formally accused or face a disciplinary hearing and so can continue to race. On Thursday, his wife was questioned for three hours as part of the investigation by the Italian Olympic Committee officials.

“For 25 days I trained very little, so winning here makes me really happy,” he continued. "Until yesterday I was so-so. I didn’t have the legs for yesterday’s climb and on the hills I’m still not at my best. In the finale I felt really good and my teammates were fantastic at bringing to an ideal position for the sprint. I think I did a great sprint. It’s always difficult to win sprints but it is particularly difficult to win here because of the number of fast riders that are competing in the Vuelta. I really needed this one.”

“Getting twenty wins in a grand tour isn’t an easy. My 52 stage wins in the three grand tours at the age of 36 shows young riders that you can have a long and successful career but it also requires a lot of sacrifices.”

Despite his win, Petacchi played down his chances of securing a place in the Italian team for the world championships.

“The world championship is another story because it’s a 260km race. It’s difficult to think that 100 riders will contest a sprint for the rainbow jersey because you need to have a great condition. I’ve got to improve my form before deciding anything and it’s up to [national coach Paolo] Bettini to decide anyway.”

Mark Cavendish was pretty relaxed despite losing to Petacchi and again failing to win at the Vuelta.

“I was on Petacchi’s wheel and a Quick Step rider came to the front. He was sprinting but not sprinting. It was my problem for being in the box; I should have been out of it if I wanted to go for the win," he said.

"My team did a good job, so I’m disappointed. I’m in the points jersey, so that’s ok but I can send congratulations to Petacchi. He’s a great guy.”

A day for the sprinters

With the stage always likely to end in a sprint, few riders were interested in fighting to get in the early break of the 187.1km stage around the Murcia region.

Of course there is always someone looking for some glory, television time and perhaps a contract for next season. For a combination of those reasons, Vladimir Isaichev (Xacobeo Galicia) jumped away after just two kilometres and he was quickly joined by Dominik Roels (Milram), Martin Pedersen (Footon–Servetto), Vladimir Isaichev, (Xacobeo Galicia) and Jorge Montenegro (Andalucia Cajasur). The break of the day was underway.

The peloton let them open a big gap, with it touching nine minutes at one point, but HTC-Columbia, Garmin-Transitions and Lampre-Farnese Vini all put one rider on the front to control the chase. Lars Bak (HTC-Columbia), David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) and Daniele Righi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) all did long and frequent turns on the front. The gap fell to a more manageable six minutes when the riders hit the feed zone after 85km and it was already pretty clear the stage would end in a sprint.

As expected, the only climb of the day, the Puerto de Hondón de los Frailes helped the chase. Dominik Roels (Milram) punctured on the climb but got back as the gap came down to four minutes on the descent.

Lars Bak tried to control the tempo on the peloton on the climb and nobody seemed to suffer except for Spain’s Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky). Like many of his teammates, he has been struggling with a virus and even spent time in hospital last night.

He managed to survive in the peloton on the flat but was suffered on the climb. The race doctor advised him to retire and he climbed off and his Vuelta was sadly over. He was the third Team Sky rider forced to quit the race due to illness. Ben Swift and John-Lee Augustyn quit on stage three.

The peloton almost seemed to hesitate, willing to perhaps wait for their comrade Flecha, but as ever, the race must go on, and the breakaway upped the pace to try and stay clear.

Bak, Zabriskie and Righi also upped their effort on the front and the gap gradually came down. With 25km to go, the FDJ team massed on the front and upped the pace even more. The break tried to stay clear but was eventually caught five kilometres from the finish.

HTC-Columbia hit the front and lined out the peloton but it was too much and too soon and they burnt their riders before the final kilometre. Lampre-Farnese Vin then took over and set up Petacchi. He went early but had the speed and the clever move to the right, to trap Cavendish behind him. It was lesson of experienced sprinting from the Italian veteran and his teammates.

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