"Petacchi's 11 wins"

afx237vi

Watching the ToB now, Hugh Porter keeps referring to the fact that Cavendish is targetting Petacchi's record of 11 wins as a neo-pro. It's not just Porter either, because I've read it in a few places.

But where did that come from? Petacchi turned pro in 1996 and didn't take his first victory until the Tour de Langkawi in 1998!

http://cyclingbase.com/palcoureurs.php?id=535&idtitle=1

http://www.trap-friis.dk/cykling/italy.Petacchi.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Petacchi

It can't be this year's total either, cos Ale Jet has 16.

iainf72

I can't find a year he got 11 wins in - 12, yes, but not 11.

Who is the most successful neo-pro of recent years? I've always considered Ale-Jet a slow starters which can be seen from your research.

ridgerider

Isn't it's McEwan's record?

afx237vi

Ridgerider wrote:

Isn't it's McEwan's record?

That was 8, so Cavendish has beat that already.

Although looking at the two sites I linked above, that seems dubious too. They don't even agree on what year he turned pro and neither of them have 8 wins.

What even constitutes a win? Points jersey? Criterium? Cav's 10 have all come in UCI ranked races, which I think should be the benchmark.

Looking around, both Cipollini and Zabel took a few years to hit top speed as well.

Noodley

afx237vi wrote:

Watching the ToB now, Hugh Porter keeps referring to the fact that Cavendish is targetting Petacchi's record of 11 wins as a neo-pro. It's not just Porter either, because I've read it in a few places.

But where did that come from? Petacchi turned pro in 1996 and didn't take his first victory until the Tour de Langkawi in 1998!

http://cyclingbase.com/palcoureurs.php?id=535&idtitle=1

http://www.trap-friis.dk/cykling/italy.Petacchi.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Petacchi

It can't be this year's total either, cos Ale Jet has 16.

If only I had looked here a few hours ago :shock:
It would have saved me doing exactly the same thing having heard Porter today on the highlights programme on BBC :oops:

I came up with the same findings.

John Stevenson

Robbie McEwen's website lists ten wins in his first pro year, but I think it's unlikely that the GP de Fremantle was a UCI race.

http://www.mcewenrobbie.com/site2007/EN_palmares.php

Merckx also seems to have won nine pro races in his first pro year.

Spoff

I believe - and it is only believe - that Cav's initial aim was to beat Robbie's eight wins (although even Cav rubbished some of those eight wins) then, when he did that, he decided he wanted to beat the 11 wins that Petacchi had this season at that point. Petacchi then spoiled it by winning some more races.

Strangely Cav hasn't said that he wants to beat the new number . . .

Basically, Cav's had the best neo-pro season of anyone and is clearly going to be very, very good (especially if he can ever drag himself over hills).

ricadus

Remember though that Robbie McEwen spent years scrabbling before the getting the regular big wins in the stage races.

In 1999 I think he got told by Rabobank before (or during?) the TdF that he wasn't getting a contract renewal, and then he went and bagged the Champs-Elysees stage – a nice trump to the management there, but at the time he wasn't often a match for Zabel, Cipo, Steels or others.

For Cav, having the best neo-pro season of anyone isn't a guarantee of anything else in the future, and for someone of his relative inexperience it could easily be followed by an extended period of winning nothing. Hopefully he will have the same focus as McEwan had, as well as some good mentors/management so he doesn't do a Millar.

LangerDan

What really defines a "neo-pro"? In the dim and distant past, riders would go from local amateur clubs to (usually French) amateur clubs like ACBB (if they were lucky) and then start a new year as a professional.

The path for the current crop of neo-pros is much more professional in every sense of the word. In the past two years Cav, for instance, has ridden for the GB squad, rode with Team Sparkasse (a UCI registered "Continental" team) and was a stagiere with T- Mobile by the time of the ToB last year. Would it not be reasonable to say that a rider like Cav (or Ciolek or Hagen) no longer enters the pro-ranks for his first full season as some complete rookie and their success can only be compared with riders of a similar background. McEwen and Ale-Jet may have had a similar progression but the comparisons with riders from two or more decades ago are probably irrelevant.