Petacchi | Irish Peloton

June 18, 2012

The Grand Tour hat-trick: A stage win in each

The biggest stage races in the sport of cycling are the Grand Tours. Consisting of three weeks of racing, the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana are each more than twice as long as the next longest stage race at the top level of the sport. To win one of these races is the pinnacle of any cyclist’s career.

Only five riders have ever won all three of these races. They are Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault and Alberto Contador. No rider has ever won all three in the same year. In fact, it is relatively rare to even complete all three in the same year.

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March 9, 2012

Italians at the Classics – The Tour of Flounderers

Oliver Zaugg won the Tour of Lombardy last year in what was most certainly a surprise victory considering he had never won a race before. The 30 year-old chose a monument classic to make his mark on the sport as he beat Daniel Martin into second place. Zaugg became the first post-war rider to take one of cycling’s five biggest one-day races as his maiden victory.

But there was another notable statistic which emerged as a result of Zaugg’s victory.

Since the last Italian victory at the Tour of Lombardy, by Damiano Cunego in 2008, the race has been won twice by Phillipe Gilbert of Belgium and most recently by Zaugg of Switzerland. Three barren years without an Italian victory in their own race is compounded by the fact that the last three winners of their other monument, Milan-San Remo, have been an Aussie, a Spaniard and a Brit.

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February 7, 2012

I’m the best f*****g sprinter in the world

An article appeared in Q magazine a couple of months ago about the band Coldplay. The article in question showed a human, vulnerable side to lead singer Chris Martin which doesn’t usually come across in interviews (or in their music).

Martin described how he constantly doubts the quality of his work and whether the band deserve the success that they’ve achieved. He went on to divulge that as soon as he steps on stage he forgets all those fears and in his head, for the duration of the gig, he thinks that Coldplay are ‘the best fucking band in the world’. But as soon as he steps off the stage, the questioning and self-doubt return.

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August 24, 2011

If there’s a man who has a right to be tired…

Mark Cavendish had a chance to make a bit of history this week. There have only been three riders in the history of the sport who have won a stage in all three Grand Tours in the same year, Miguel Poblet (1956), Pierino Baffi (1958) and Alessandro Petacchi (2003). Having already won two stages of this year’s Giro and five stages at the Tour, Cavendish had only a stage of the 2011 Vuelta to cross off his list to complete the hat-trick.

But, as we now know, Cavendish abandoned and in doing so forfeited his chance of joining the trio of riders who have achieved this remarkable feat. But the question is, should we really be all that surprised?

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July 19, 2011

Green jersey points breakdown: Is the system actually geared towards Cavendish?

Stephen Roche wrote in an article yesterday that he thought it would be an interesting exercise to calculate who would be leading the green jersey competition if the intermediate sprints were ignored and the points were assigned on the stage finishes alone.

Well, Roche’s wish is my command. His comments were made in relation to Mark Cavendish, so does this year’s points classification suit the Manxman more than last year’s?

Currently the green jersey standings in this year’s Tour de France are as follows:

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July 8, 2010

Where have you been Alessandro?

Alessandro Petacchi is finally back on the scene winning Tour stages at the ripe old age of 36. This week has seen his first Tour stage wins since 2003, and he has won them in dominant fashion. So the question begs, where have you been Alessandro? Well, his absences can be attributed to a combination of unfortunate injuries, illnesses and one day in 2007 when he got a bit over enthusiastic with his asthma inhaler. This is in fact the first Tour de France he’s even started since 2004.

Petacchi was a relative latecomer to the Grand Tour stage winners circle. By the time he was 26 he had ten top ten placings at the Giro d’Italia to his name. But he had yet to reach the top step of the winner’s podium at the Giro and he had yet to start the Tour de France. It wasn’t until the Vuelta a Espana in 2000 where the Italian finally hit the big time when he won Stage 8 into Salou. He went on to win another Vuelta stage that year and ended up 3rd in the points classification.

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