Road Bike Racing - Giro Stage 15

How about that? Petacchi wins his 8th stage of this year's Giro and sets a post-war record. And at 234 km, too - I never would have thought he still had the legs for a winning sprint at that distance. he usually favors the shorter stages.

Congratulations Petacchi!

Incredible. He has won 8 out of 10 bunch sprints so far.
I wonder if he will make it through the mountains. I guess it will really depend on the weather, and if they do ride over the Gavia (lord I hope they do). I would bet on him to win 9.

This made me look back at the pre-WW2 stats.
In 1927, Binda won 12 out of the 15 stages! Talk about dominance

If he had started just seconds earlier on the stage where Fast Freddy won, and if his teammate had not messed up on the stage where McEwen won, today would have been Petacchi's 10th win. Crazy.

And I'm not making excuses, it's just fun to play the "what if?" game.

Does Petacchi usually abandon during the mountains, or does he try to make it through only to miss the cut-off?

I heard something about him wanting to go for the green jersey in the Tour this year...which would mean getting through the Alps and the Pyrenees.

Does Petacchi usually abandon during the mountains, or does he try to make it through only to miss the cut-off?

I heard something about him wanting to go for the green jersey in the Tour this year...which would mean getting through the Alps and the Pyrenees.
Atta boy, Alessandro! Woop!

A look at Petacchi's palmares (http://www.trap-friis.dk/cykling/italien.Petacchi.htm) will show that, contrary to popular belief, he doesn't readily abandon the Grand Tours, once they hit the climbs.

Last year, Peta got a bad rap for leaving the TdF as soon as the road turned uphill. But Fassa Bortolo were run through with a nasty virus of some sort - less than half the team, I think, ended up finishing. In last year's Giro, he suffered an awful crash in the TT, and still made it through to win stages 16 and 17. He ended up missing the time cut on an uphill finish a stage later.

And of course he wants to wear the green jersey on the Champs Elysses. So do I. ;) If it ain't Mario (which, sadly, it won't be), then I hope it's Peta. But McEwen will fight him every step of the way.

68 kph (42.5mph) in the last sprint.WOW !!

As I posted in another thread, Petta was sprinting in a 53x11 at 110 RPM.