Petacchi to ride the Tour with Silence-Lotto?!

afx237vi

http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves20 ... -tour.html

Against all odds, Alessandro Petacchi, already double stage winner on the Giro's centenary, could participate in the Tour de France (July 4-26) with the team ... Silence-Lotto. His current team, the LPR, was not invited to the next Grande Boucle, the Italian sprinter would contest the race in the jersey of Belgian training, depending on the equipment on Thursday. Silence team manager, Roberto Damiano said he was "interested" by Petacchi, but not as a transfer standard.

:?:

Can cyclists go on loan deals like footballers?

Bet Cadel is happy reading that :shock:

Kléber

It's been done before, riders have swapped teams. For example, in the Giro right now Amica Chips' Betagnolli was recruited by Serramenti Diquigiovanni to fill the gap left by Rebellin.

Not sure what ASO would say to the presence of "elephant lungs" Pettachi and as you say, a sprinter is just what Evans will want. More chaos from Lotto.

dave_1

Kléber wrote:

It's been done before, riders have swapped teams. For example, in the Giro right now Amica Chips' Betagnolli was recruited by Serramenti Diquigiovanni to fill the gap left by Rebellin.

Not sure what ASO would say to the presence of "elephant lungs" Pettachi and as you say, a sprinter is just what Evans will want. More chaos from Lotto.

Ronan Pensec rode the TDF with Amaya...his contract was with another team, Seur? ,,,1991

afx237vi

Kléber wrote:

It's been done before, riders have swapped teams. For example, in the Giro right now Amica Chips' Betagnolli was recruited by Serramenti Diquigiovanni to fill the gap left by Rebellin.

Not sure what ASO would say to the presence of "elephant lungs" Pettachi and as you say, a sprinter is just what Evans will want. More chaos from Lotto.

Interesting. Didn't know that. Swapped one dodgy Italian for another.

Has Cadel ever had a good team working for him? Popovych seems to have been revived since going back to Bruyneel. Seen him more this week than the entirety of last year.

ACMadone

Moves to Silence-Lotto, Prudhome comes out with the same as he's said about Boonen "It's obviously impossible for Aleessandro Petacchi, to start the Tour."

frenchfighter

Wow, that is interesting. Good news though - will give Cav a run for his money.

SpaceJunk

afx237vi wrote:

Kléber wrote:

It's been done before, riders have swapped teams. For example, in the Giro right now Amica Chips' Betagnolli was recruited by Serramenti Diquigiovanni to fill the gap left by Rebellin.

Not sure what ASO would say to the presence of "elephant lungs" Pettachi and as you say, a sprinter is just what Evans will want. More chaos from Lotto.

Interesting. Didn't know that. Swapped one dodgy Italian for another.

Has Cadel ever had a good team working for him? Popovych seems to have been revived since going back to Bruyneel. Seen him more this week than the entirety of last year.

Re: Popovych. I think there could be a couple of reasons for that, and I think they both hold as much credibility as the other:

1. Astana use a better brand of breakfast cereal, which gets the best out of riders.
2. Silence's management and Cadel are so uninspiring they can't get the best out of their domestiques.

SpaceJunk

I think if Silence do hire Ale-Jet; it's a huge slap in the face to Cadel (or his chances of winning anyway).

Evans wants 8 riders working for him at TdF, and although Petacchi would be likely to say yes to a spot in the race even if it means no lead-out train (and he probably doesn't need one anyway), you wonder how Cadel would take the idea that Silence are looking for someone to give them some wins.

I know Robbie left, but I wonder what he'd make of all this?

richard wants a baum

If Cadel hasnt tuned into the fact that Lotto are never going to have the best domestiques then his a very silly boy. Nothing over the last couple of years has been done to get him some decent help (the exception to the rule being Horner and where is he again?) so Cadel can complain all he wants, he was out of contract last year and could have moved to a more supportive team if he could have found one. I really dont want to hear about what a disappiontment Kohl was etc etc. Is it just me or are Lotto the most apethetic team out there?

SpaceJunk

Silence (specifically Marc Sergeant) have now come out and denied this because:

1. Can't afford to pay him
2. Cadel is their man

Yet, CN (and it's probably not accurate anyway), state:

The talk came up after a conversation between Petacchi's manager and one of Silence-Lotto's sports directors, Roberto Damiani, at the Giro d'Italia. Damiani said he was "interested" in Petacchi if the rider wasn't under contract anymore.

Isn't Damiani Cadel's confidante at Silence?

So (and again I doubt this story), I wonder how Cadel would be feeling about this?

Unsheath

They just got rid of one ageing sprinter only to recruit another? This doesnt wash.

To be fair to Silence, they did recruit the little Austrian before he was outed, but yes, they've done precious little for Cadel. In hindsight, swapping out Horner for Poppo was one of the worst decisions ever. Could have made all the difference in last years TDF, particularly against the 3 CSC men.

lucybears

Quick-Step:

Lefevere: "Petacchi is te duur voor ons"

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/0 ... Quick_Step

dave_1

I hope Pettachi rides...it would be quite exciting seeing him go up and against cavendish...that last finish there wasn't so much in it -stage 13 and Pettachi won a stage early on...always good for the TDF to see the two best + maybe Mcewan will surprise...kinda Abdu-Cipo battles

Kléber

Pettachi's unlikely to be welcomed by ASO. His story about asthma might not wash with the Tour organisers.

Remember he tested positive for salbutamol, the product contained in inhalers for asthmatics. But the test revealed a massive dose, more than twice the allowed content stated in his TUE.

Other riders have been known to inject the drug and use it as masking agent for epitestosterone. A couple of years ago one rider - a woman I think - claimed she tested positive because "the inhaler exploded in my face", she claimed this resulted in massive inhalation. Petacchi didn't opt for this comedy defence but few believed he just had a puff or two on the inhaler.

So a Petacchi versus Cav might be interesting for the headlines but I'd like to see some younger riders come through, to see Farrar up his game and to see what Ciolek can do, not to mention Hushovd, Steegmans, Bennati, Napolitano, Van Avermaet, Weylandt, Freire and many others. Cavendish should find the Tour sprints a lot harder, there will be a lot more competition.

Ste_S

I don't get Silence Lotto, they can't seem to make their mind up if they're a classics, GC or sprinters team. Pick one and do it properly instead of half arsing all three.

They where lucky Robbie McEwan could survive without a lead out train