Alessandro Petacchi

Alessandro Petacchi

Petacchi at the 2015 Brabantse Pijl.
Personal information
Full name	Alessandro Petacchi
Nickname	AleJet
Born	(1974-01-03) 3 January 1974 La Spezia, Italy
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb; 11.8 st)
Team information
Current team	Wilier Triestina–Southeast
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Professional team(s)
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
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France Points classification (2010) 6 individual stages (2003, 2010) Giro d'Italia Points classification (2004) 22 individual stages (2003–2011) Vuelta a España Points classification (2005) 20 individual stages (2000–2010) One-day races and Classics Milan – Sanremo (2005) Paris–Tours (2007) Scheldeprijs (2009)
Infobox last updated on 7 January 2015

Alessandro Petacchi (born 3 January 1974 in La Spezia, Liguria) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for the Wilier Triestina–Southeast team. A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 48 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010. He also won the classics Milan – San Remo in 2005 and Paris-Tours in 2007. His career spanned over 18 years during which he earned 183 victories.

In 2007, Petacchi was banned from cycling and had his results achieved 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. He announced his retirement as a lead sprinter on 23 April 2013, and terminated his contract at Lampre–Merida, but is now a lead-out man. He rejoined the professional peloton in August 2013, joining the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step squad.

Career

Petacchi turned professional in 1996, and rode for a number of teams. In 2006 he moved to Team Milram with sprinter Erik Zabel, following the disbanding of Fassa Bortolo. His explosive speed won him stages in all three of the Grand Tours. In 2004 he won a record nine stages at the Giro d'Italia, which resulted in winning the points classification. He won his first classic in 2005, Milan–San Remo. He had the better of a mass sprint, beating Danilo Hondo, Thor Hushovd, Stuart O'Grady and Óscar Freire.

He withdrew from the 2006 Giro d'Italia after crashing during the third stage. He had finished the stage with a broken kneecap. In 2007, he won five stages in the Giro d'Italia, bringing his tally of ProTour victories to 21 and making him the rider with most UCI ProTour victories. During that season, he registered a success of prestige in Paris-Tours. With support from his teammate Erik Zabel, Petacchi was the victor in the mass gallop, with Francesco Chicchi and Oscar Freire rounding up the podium.

In 2010, he won the first and fourth stages of the Tour de France. 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 the points classification in the Tour de France since 1968.

Doping allegations

After a non-negative result for the asthma drug salbutamol, which Petacchi had clearance to use, he was placed on non-active status and missed the 2007 Tour de France. Petacchi was absolved when the Italian Cycling Federation ruled that overuse of Salbutamol was human error.

On 6 May 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Petacchi until the end of August, applied retroactively from November. It said all competitive results obtained during the 2007 Giro d'Italia shall be disqualified with all of the resulting consequences including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes. Results after 31 October 2007 and during his ban were disqualified 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." The case was considered controversial, as it kept Petacchi from starting the Tour de France as he had planned 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.

As a result of this, on 16 May 2008, Petacchi was fired by Team Milram. After his suspension he joined LPR Brakes–Ballan.

LPR Brakes and beyond

After winning a few minor races in 2008, Petacchi started 2009 strongly by winning the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen semi-classic race. He was selected to ride the Giro d'Italia and won the second and third stages, wearing the pink jersey on stage 3 and the cyclamen jersey on stages 2 through 5.

Petacchi signed with Lampre–Farnese Vini for the 2010 season. He announced his retirement after the 2013 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 the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team to ride as a lead-out man for Mark 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. In July 2013 Patrick Lefevere announced that Petacchi would be joining Omega Pharma-Quick Step from the start of August on a 14-month contract. On 12 April 2014 he got his first victory for his new team at Grand Prix Pino Cerami and also his first victory since 2012. In January 2015 it emerged that Petacchi would ride for Southeast Pro Cycling in 2015. 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.

Palmares

Petacchi at the 2006 Rund um den Henninger Turm.

Petacchi at the 2005 Milan–San Remo, where he won his first Classic race.

1998

1 stage Tour de Langkawi

1999

King of the Mountains, Tour de Langkawi

2000

Stages 8 & 12 Vuelta a España

2 stages & GC Giro della Provincia di Lucca

2 stages Tour de Luxembourg

2 stages Route du Sud

1 stage Regio-Tour

2001

2 stages Settimana Lombarda

1 stage Euskal Bizikleta

1 stage Tour of Poland

1 stage Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

2002

Stage 12 Vuelta a España

Stages 1 & 5 Paris–Nice

3 stages Vuelta Valenciana

3 stages Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

1 stage Tour Méditerranéen

1 stage Regio-Tour

1 stage Ronde van Nederland

2003

Tour de France:

Winner Stages 2, 3, 5 & 6

Giro d'Italia:

Winner Stages 1, 5, 6, 13, 16 & 17

Vuelta a España:

Winner Stages 3, 5, 12, 14 & 21

Stage 1 Paris–Nice

3 stages Vuelta a Aragón

2 stages Ronde van Nederland

1 stage Vuelta Valenciana

Trofeo Luis Puig

2004

Giro d'Italia:

Winner points classification

Winner Most Combative classification

Winner Azzurri d'Italia classification

Winner Stages 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16 & 21

Vuelta a España:

Winner Stages 2, 4, 7 & 13

Stages 1, 2 & 7 Tirreno–Adriatico

2 stages Giro della Provincia di Lucca

2 stages Vuelta a Aragón

1 stage Ronde van Nederland

2005

Giro d'Italia:

Winner Stages 10, 13, 16 & 21

Vuelta a España:

Winner Points classification

Winner Stages 3, 4, 8, 12 & 21

1st Milan–San Remo

Stages 1, 6 & 7 Tirreno–Adriatico

Stages 1 & 2 Tour de Romandie

3 stages & GC Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana

GP Costa Degli Etruschi

Trofeo Luis Puig

2 stages Vuelta a Andalucía

2 stages Vuelta a Aragón

2006

Stage 7 & Points Classification Tirreno–Adriatico

GP Costa Degli Etruschi

Giro della Provincia di Lucca

5 stages & GC Internationale Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt

2 stages Ruta del Sol

2 stages Vuelta Valenciana

2007

GP Costa Degli Etruschi

3 stages & GC Internationale Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt

3 stages & GC Volta ao Algarve

1 stage Vuelta Valenciana

1 stage Regio-Tour

Vuelta a España:

Winner Stages 11 & 12

Paris–Tours

2008

Tour of Britain:

Winner Stages 1, 6 & 8

Memorial Viviana Manservisi

Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli

2009

Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi

1st, Stage 5, Giro di Sardegna

1st, Stage 2, Tirreno–Adriatico

Settimana Ciclista Lombarda:

1st, Stages 1 (TTT), 2 & 4

Scheldeprijs

Giro di Toscana

Giro d'Italia:

1st, Stages 2 & 3

1st, Stage 1, Delta Tour Zeeland

2010

Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria

1st, Stage 2 & 4

1st, Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi

3rd Milan–San Remo

1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse

Tour de France

1st Points classification

1st Stages 1 & 4

1st Stage 7 Vuelta a España

2011

1st Stage 2 Volta a Catalunya

Tour of Turkey

1st Points classification

1st Stage 4

1st Stage 2 Giro d'Italia

2012

Bayern-Rundfahrt

1st Points classification

1st Stages 1, 3 & 5

2013

4th Trofeo Palma de Mallorca

7th Trofeo Campos–Santanyí–Ses Salines

2014

1st Grand Prix Pino Cerami

4th Scheldeprijs

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Giro	92	—	94	WD	97	100	WD	104	—	121	WD	WD	—	—	WD
Tour	—	97	—	WD	WD	—	—	—	—	—	150	107	WD	—	148
Vuelta	WD	—	94	120	WD	88	WD	127	—	—	WD	100	—	—	—

WD = Withdrew; In Progress = IP

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

External links

• Alessandro Petacchi profile at Cycling Archives