(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
On another beautiful day in Tuscany, 35 year old sprinter Alessandro
Petacchi (LPR Brakes-Vini Farnese) would not be denied in a sprint
finish in the coastal town of Marina di Carrara, nearby where the
Italian speedster grew up. The popular Petacchi won stage 2 of
Tirreno-Adriatico race, while still-unknown Julien El Fares (Cofidis)
maintained his race lead. Petacchi had already won the Italian season
opener this year at the GP Costa Etruschi, but a crash just afterwards
in the GP Grossetto delayed his preparation. Today, Petacchi rode a
superb lead-out sprint from 250-meters to beat his Liquigas rival
Daniele Bennati by a bike length.
A clearly satisfied Petacchi said after his win "I think it was a great
race today. I felt really strong on the final climb and the team did an
exceptional job; DiLuca, Pietropolli, Bernucci and Bosisio were all
great. It's great to win here, five minutes from home. It's been three
difficult years since my knee injury but I am feeling great here." Less
satisfied was Liquigas sprinter Daniele Bennati, who was clearly beaten
by Petacchi in the sprint. "I wanted to do more today, but I crashed at
the beginning of the final climb and had to chase back with my
teammates Sabbatini and Agnoli. So when I got to the sprint I went with
all I had but it was all I could do to get 2nd today."
Che Bello: riding in Tuscany is something special
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
After a uneventful start in the beautiful central Tuscany hill-town of
Volterra, after 20km of stage 2 in San Giovanni, Polish champion Marcin
Sapa (Lampre) went on the attack and was quickly joined by Ermanno
Capelli (Fuji-Servetto). This duo forged ahead under sunny skies on the
way to Marina di Carrara and at the 640m. high KOM on Monte Serra near
Pisa after 65.7km, the front duo had a lead of over 5-minutes.
Astana's Jani Brajkovic is out of Tirreno-Adriatico with a concussion
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Back in the gruppo, a crash forced Slovenian rider Janez Brajkovic
(Astana) to abandon the race as he landed on his head and suffered a
concussion, while his Astana teammate Andreas Kloden crashed
twice in the stage to Marina di Carrara and has road rash,and bruises on
his shoulder and elbow but will continue the race.
Breakaway riders Sapa and Capelli were still away with 30km to race
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
With 32km still to race, the front duo still had a gap of 3'28" on the
main gruppo, with Liquigas and Saxo Bank leading the chase. As the
snow-capped Alpi Apuane above Massa Carrera and their world-famous
marble quarries glinted in the late afternoon sun, the front duo began
the final climb of the day into the steep, narrow twisting ascent among
the quarries up to Ponti di Vara, then the KOM in Bedizzano. Lanky
Capelli dropped the Polish champ as the road tilted upwards with 25km
to go, while Petacchi's LPR Brakes squad was pushing the tempo. The
slippery marble dust caused numerous crashes, including Tom Boonen, race
leader El Farès and Thor Hushovd (Cervélo). El Fares made it back to the
front group, while Boonen, Hushovd and Cavendish never saw the front of
the race again.
Up to the Ponti di Vara among the legendary Carrera marble quarries
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Fuji-Servetto's Capelli topped the Ponti di Vara climb 20" ahead of
Liquigas rider Nibali, with the KOM atop Bedizzano next up. and
familiar to Nibali, he was able to pull back Capelli. Davide Rebellin then took
over and powered first over the KOM with 12km left in the race. Stefano Garzelli
made an attack on the descent to Marina di Massa, but with the steep
crests of the Alpi Apuane above Massa Carrera starkly outlined in the
late afternoon sun, the Acqua e Sapone rider was brought to heel. A total of 90
riders contested the final sprint and Alessandro Petacchi's LPR Brakes-Vini
Farnese teammate Lorenzo Bernucci gave Ale-Jet the perfect leadout for
his well-deserved stage win. Mark Cavendish and his Columbia guys never
got back on, while Tom Boonen, who whacked his left knee hard in a
crash on the final climb and ended up almost 10-minutes back, with yet another
crash victim, Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) at 12-minutes, along with ailing Saxo
Bank rider Fabian
Cancellara.
I Bellissimi: Tirreno-Adriatico Misses are Multo Bella!
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Friday's 166km stage 3 loops through the heart of central Tuscany from
Fucecchio to Santa Croce sull'Arno across the Arno River valley and
through Vinci, home of bicycle inventor Leonardo. Let's hope that no
black cats run in front of the gruppo on Friday the 13th as the notably
superstitious Tuscan riders will have to turn around and go home! Stage
3 should be another chance for the sprinters and look for Columbia's Mark Cavendish to
get his revenge in.
44th Tirreno-Adriatico
Italy, March 11-17, 2009
Thursday, March 12
Stage 2: Volterra-Marina di Carrara / 177km
1. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes-Vini Farnese / 4h32'42" (39.063 km/hr)
2. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
3. Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel
4. Dominique Rollin (Can) Cervelo @ same time
5. Luca Paolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo
44th Tirreno-Adriatico / General classification after Stage 2
1. Julien El Fares (Fra) Cofidis 8h06'32"
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes-Vini Farnese @ 15"
3. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas @ 15"
4. Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce @ :24"
5. Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis @ :25"
6. Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
7. Matti Breschel (Den) Saxo Bank
8. Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini
9. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Katusha @ same time
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