.JPG) Petacchi at the2015 Brabantse Pijl. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alessandro Petacchi |
| Nickname | AleJet |
| Born | (1974-01-03)3 January 1974 (age 51) La Spezia, Italy |
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Sprinter |
| Professional teams | |
| 1996–1999 | Scrigno–Blue Storm |
| 2000–2005 | Fassa Bortolo |
| 2006–2008 | Team Milram |
| 2008–2009 | LPR Brakes–Ballan |
| 2010–2013 | Lampre–Farnese Vini |
| 2013–2014 | Omega Pharma–Quick-Step |
| 2015 | Southeast Pro Cycling[1] |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Alessandro Petacchi (born 3 January 1974) is an Italian former professionalroad racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1996 and 2015. A specialistsprinter, Petacchi has won 48grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in theGiro d'Italia in2004, theVuelta a España in2005 and theTour de France in2010. He also won theclassicsMilan – San Remo in 2005[2] andParis–Tours in 2007.[3] His career spanned over 18 years during which he earned 183 victories.[4]
In 2007, Petacchi was banned from cycling and had his results disqualified for doping. The court later said that he had not cheated on purpose but had not taken enough care when consuming his legal asthma drug.[5] He announced his retirement as a lead sprinter on 23 April 2013, and terminated his contract atLampre–Merida,.[4][6] He rejoined the professional peloton in August 2013, joining the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step squad as a lead-out man.[7][8] In 2015, he joined theSoutheast team, where he retired from cycling for good after that year'sGiro d'Italia.
Born inLa Spezia,Liguria, Petacchi turned professional in 1996 withScrigno–Blue Storm. In the early years, he won small races – most notably a stage inTour de Langkawi in 1998 and the mountains classification in the same race the year after. Petacchi rode his first Grand Tour at theVuelta a España in 1997, where his best finish was 6th on stage 2. He rode his firstGiro in 1998, where he recorded his best finish with an impressive fourth on stage 3 and several other top 10 finishes during the race. He later retired from the race on stage 18.
In 2000, Petacchi signed forFassa Bortolo. He got his breakthrough when he won his first Grand Tour stage inVuelta a España on stage 7 in a sprint where he beatGiovanni Lombardi in a bunch sprint. He was initially assigned asFabio Baldato's lead-out man at that year's Vuelta. He won another stage later in stage 11. He ended the year with nine victories.
2001 became a mediocre year for Petacchi in contrast to 2000. He decided to go to the Tour for the first time in his career, where he recorded several top 10 finishes and fourth in the points classification.
Petacchi got a great start to his 2002 campaign, when he won a stage inTour Méditerranéen and two stages inParis–Nice, where he also wore the leader jersey for two days. He came very close on winning a stage several times during theGiro d'Italia, where he got two second places and one third place. On the last stage, he lost toMario Cipollini. He came to the Vuelta with ambitions to win some stages and the points classification, where he also won a stage, but ultimately became second in the points classification, beaten byErik Zabel. He ended the year by being a part of the winning Italian lead-out train for Cipollini in the Road World Championship in Zolder.
Petacchi started the season strongly by winningTrofeo Luis Puig and a stage in bothVuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana andParis–Nice. He continued his form going into theGiro. He won his first Giro stage on the first stage, beating the world championMario Cipollini in a head-to-head sprint. The stage win also gave Petacchi the maglia rosa. He wore the leader jersey for 5 days and was in all those days inside top 5 in every single stage and won two stages more in the process. He lost the jersey on the first mountain stage in stage 7. He later won three more stages in the race, bringing his Giro stage wins up to 6 stage wins, before leaving the race due to being outside the time limit on stage 18. He then rodeTour de France, where he won 4 stages – three stages in a row, before retiring on stage 7. He wore the green jersey when he retired. After riding theEneco Tour, he decided to ride the Vuelta. He won five stages and became the third rider ever to have won a stage at each Grand Tour in a single year. He finished the season with 24 victories.
Petacchi started his 2004 season with three stage wins inTirreno–Adriatico and a fourth-place finish inMilan–San Remo. Then he arrived at theGiro and won a record nine stages, the points classification and the Azzurri d'Italia classification. He attempted to recreate his 2003 season by participating in theTour, however, it became a disappointment and he dropped out on stage 6 due to injuries. He bounced back in theVuelta by winning four stages.
Petacchi started his 2005 season early by winningGP Costa Degli Etruschi and several stages of Vuelta an Andalucia. He then won three stages of Tirreno–Adriatico and finished 2nd in the general classification. He continued his great form by winningMilano-San Remo. He had the better of a mass sprint, beatingDanilo Hondo,Thor Hushovd,Stuart O'Grady andÓscar Freire.[2] He later won four stages of the Giro and five stages and the points classification of the Vuelta.
In July 2005, Petacchi announced that, following the decision to disband Fassa Bortolo, he would joinDomina Vacanze for the 2006 season.[9] In August, sprinter rivalErik Zabel also joined the team, which fused withTeam Wiesenhof to becomeTeam Milram.[10]
His explosive speed won him stages in all three of theGrand Tours. He withdrew from the2006 Giro d'Italia after crashing during the third stage. He had finished the stage with a brokenkneecap.[11] It was the first time that Petacchi did not win a stage in the Giro since 2002.
In 2007, he won five stages in theGiro d'Italia, bringing his tally of ProTour victories to 21 and making him therider with most UCI ProTour victories. During that season, he registered a success of prestige inParis–Tours. With support from his teammateErik Zabel, Petacchi was the victor in the mass gallop, withFrancesco Chicchi and Óscar Freire rounding up the podium.[3]
After he returned an "Adverse Analytical Finding" (AAF), a higher level than officially allowed of theasthma medicationsalbutamol, which Petacchi had clearance to use, he was placed on non-active status and missed the2007 Tour de France.[12] Petacchi was absolved when theItalian Cycling Federation ruled that overuse of Salbutamol was human error.[13]
On 6 May 2008, theWorld Anti-Doping Agency won its challenge against the Italian national governing body at theCourt of Arbitration for Sport. Petacchi was banned from 1 November 2007 to 31 August 2008, andall competitive results obtained during the2007 Giro d'Italia shall be disqualified with all of the resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes, including five Giro d'Italia stage wins. The court said Petacchi had not intended to cheat and that it was likely that he had inadvertently consumed too much medication, but he had not exercised "utmost caution."[14] The case was considered controversial,[15] as it kept Petacchi from starting the Tour de France as he had planned[16] and for the court ruling that he should be suspended despite acknowledging that he had not cheated. Petacchi maintained that he had done no wrong.[17]
As a result of this, on 16 May 2008, Petacchi was fired byTeam Milram.[18] After his suspension he joinedLPR Brakes–Ballan.
After winning a few minor races in 2008, Petacchi started 2009 strongly by winning theScheldeprijs Vlaanderen semi-classic race. He was selected to ride theGiro d'Italia and won the second and third stages, wearing thepink jersey on stage 3 and the cyclamen jersey on stages 2 through 5.[19]
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Petacchi signed withLampre–Farnese Vini for the 2010 season.[20] Petacchi won that year the first and fourth stages of theTour de France – his first stage wins in the race since 2003. Before going on to complete the grand slam as he won the green sprinters jersey to complete the feat at all the grand tours. In so doing, he was the 1st person to complete the feat since 1999 and the first Italian to win thepoints classification in the Tour de France since 1968.[21]
He announced his retirement after the2013 Paris–Roubaix, citing a lack of motivation to continue as a lead sprinter. However, he subsequently expressed a desire to take up an offer from theOmega Pharma–Quick-Step team to ride as alead-out man forMark Cavendish, which he said was made to him days after his retirement. The contract offer was blocked by the UCI as it forbids riders from transferring from one team to another mid-season.[22] In July 2013Patrick Lefevere announced that Petacchi would be joining Omega Pharma–Quick-Step from the start of August on a 14-month contract.[7] On 12 April 2014, he got his first victory for his new team atGrand Prix Pino Cerami and also his first victory since 2012. In January 2015, it emerged that Petacchi would ride forSoutheast Pro Cycling in 2015.[1] However, after racing in that year's Giro at the age of 41 and being forced to withdraw from the race one day before its conclusion due to a virus, Petacchi announced his second retirement from the sport in June 2015.[23]
On 14 May 2019, Petacchi was named by the French newspaperLe Monde as an alleged client of doctor Mark Schmidt, who administered illegalblood transfusion for the purpose of performance enhancement to athletes in what has become known asOperation Aderlass.[24] Petacchi denied the accusations,[25] but was nevertheless provisionally suspended by the UCI.[26] He subsequently stepped down from his role as commentator for Italian state televisionRAI.[27] On 24 August 2019, the UCI gave Petacchi a two-year ban from competition for his involvement with Schmidt.[28]
Mountains classification,Danmark Rundt
Points classification Mountains classification
OverallGiro della Provincia di Lucca
Points classification Points classification
Points classification Points classification after Stage 6
after Stages 1–6 after Stages 1–17
after Stages 5–7, 10 & 14 Points classificationPoints classification Points classification
OverallVolta a la Comunitat Valenciana Points classification
Points classification OverallNiedersachsen-Rundfahrt
Points classification Points classification Points classification OverallVolta ao Algarve Points classification OverallNiedersachsen-Rundfahrt Points classificationPoints classification Points classification after Stage 2 after Stages 2–5 Points classificationPoints classification Points classification after Stages 2–12 Points classification
Points classification| Grand Tour | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia | — | DNF | 70 | 92 | — | 94 | DNF | 97 | 100 | DNF | — | 121 | DNF | DNF | — | — | DNF | DNF | |
 Tour de France | — | — | — | — | 97 | — | DNF | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | 150 | 107 | DNF | — | 148 | — |
 / Vuelta a España | DNF | — | — | 77 | — | 94 | 120 | DNF | 88 | DNF | 127 | — | — | DNF | 100 | — | — | — | — |
| Monument | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | 168 | 109 | 25 | — | 17 | DNF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 12 | DNF | 65 | DNF |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | — | — | DNF | DNF | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | DSQ | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | DNF | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| Voided result |
