Petacchi has a headache

Alessandro Petacchi's first outing in the Belgian classics did not exactly go to plan, as he pulled out of today's Dwars door Vlaanderen with 75 km to go. Suffering from a headache and unable to stay in contact with the main peloton, Petacchi was forced to stop.

"Today I did not feel that good," he said. "First with this headache that was annoying me since the early hours of the morning, then with a general bad feeling that left me with empty legs since the first kilometres. I hope it is only some leftover fatigue and tension from Milan-San Remo, and not the start of the 'flu. Now, all things permitting, I will go and look at the key parts of the Tour of Flanders tomorrow and the day after with [Gianluigi] Stanga, before returning on Saturday for Harelbeke."