nikos

Petacchi is making fools out of the famous sprinters. I couldnt believe the fininsh Thursday, coming 8 back and finishing well infront of Zabel and others. 6 Giro stage wins, 3 already in the Tour. Nothing before this year, whats up with this huge jump?

don d.

Miracles of modern medicine?

bikeCOLORADO

Juicing?

Could be yet another high tech substance...or just good old plain good training and VERY good timing on his training curve...

lotek 

no, not medicine or better living through chemistry.

I believe that he is a pure sprinter ala Cipo.
Look at what he did today, no one can get near
him. He states he needs to wind up (like starting
from 6th position yesterday), and doesn't have the
explosive power of a Cipo.
Heck, he doesn't need a train, just someone to
pull him for a while and launch him, doesn't have to
be his own team.

Zabel and McEwan have both said they can't touch
him when he is firing on all cylinders (my own paraphrase)
I think he is firing now.

Look for him to drag his carcass (ala Cipo) over the mountains
and take the Green in Paris.

Marty

Joe Gardner

Any idea on what types of speed he is hitting at the line?

KevinG

If it is speed he is on, he has to be hitting it a couple of km's before the line.

don d.

My comment really was tongue in cheek; I should use those smilies. I remember when I "came into my strength"; every athlete probably does. It was an almost night and day thing for me around 27 yrs of age. No doubt he has reached his physical maturity this year.

Joe Gardner

bac

Move over Mario, there's a new Italian in town.

This one actually gets invited to le Tour also.

KevinG

Some one on another forum said the above about Petacchi.
How funny is that? What a baffoon.

brent_dube

Petacchi will win the tour this year

Laggard

This one can actually finish le Tour.

KevinG

I like a good dig on Souper Maryo as much as the next guy. But don't jump the gun on Petacchi finishing the Tour he did drop out of the Giro in the mountains. But maybe he did that so he could be fresh for the tour?

brent_dube

didnt he miss the time cut on a stage in the giro?

I don't think he retired... he was trying to stay in but didn't make the cut... I think but am not sure

bac

Yup - he missed the cut on a hard mountain stage. However, he wasn't alone, as about 40 others missed the time cut that day also!!

don d.

Pet-tacky got beat up pretty bad in an accident in the Giro too.

bac

Yup, I think it was in the time trial????

nikos

Alright, I watch a ton of racing, but never really understand all the points given and such. However, Lance and the boys win the team stage, and are right at the top of the points. However, Petacchi is kickin butt, winning stages - and he is nowhere to be seen on the leader board********** I cant believe the team stage was so big for points. Also, when Bob, Phil and Paul talk about GC what is that short for?

Laggard

The Postal boys didn't move up in points. The moved up the GC, or general clasification.

Petacchi was too far back in seconds that even with his time bonuses, he still hasn't become a threat. The Posties though were all placed pretty high before the time trial.

If I remember right, Petacchi's team really sucked at the time trial.

brent_dube

General classification. The time of a rider from each stage, added up. (the one with the smallest time at the end of the tour wins the tour)

The USPS guys finished with the same time as Petacchi on each stage that Petacchi won. (although you get a 20 second bonus for winning a stage... that isn't much at all.)

Time trials cause time gaps.

The main rule to keep in mind to keep the overall leaderboard from being confusing:
The GC classification doesn't go by points... it goes by time.

On the tour's site... look at the overall GC standings for each stage. Watch how it changes, and you may understand better.

True.
That was a really damn hard stage, too. The whole field was blown apart. I wish I caught the early parts of the stage. By the time the tv coverage caught on, Simoni was ahead of everyone. He must have attacked early.

ChipRGW

Petacchi was in 125th place after the Prologue.
He's now up to something like 85th place. Thats pretty good movement upwards. But for a sprinter to get a LOT of time, I think he'd have to be able to get a pretty nice gap, so that the entire peleton didn't get the same time, less the stage win bonus time.

Rossgo

Petacchi the new cipo? i don't think so you can never beat the italian godfather of sprinting they should not even compare the lion king to him.

Revenig

It's Petacchi's ability to come out of nowhere and win with such command that's is so awesome. He did it against Mario in the Giro and I thought that it was just a fluke, but now seeing him take these sprints with such authority in the Tdf, it's difficult not to argue that he is the best sprinter in the world right now. I would think that Mario would agree.

RacerX

What are you guys talking about? Petacchi hasn't "come out of nowhere". He has been advancing step-by-step as a cyclist through the years. He has been with Fassa for a while and even though he is young he has had very successful rides in one-day races.

He is good when the parcours is a little tougher. He did very well in Paris-Tours back in 2000. He has really "blossomed" this year but his story is no surprise at all. He has alot of talent and his hard work through the years is finally showing.

He's been one of my favorite riders the last year and 1/2.

Even in joking, I find comments about him "juicing" bad form.

hollow

Petacchi abandoned the Tour just before the summit of the first climb. I guess he needed to rest up to get some stage wins at the Vuelta. At least now the competition for the green jersey should be more interesting.