Yesterdays stage of the 2006 Giro looked more like an early “spring classic” than a grand tour, still in Belgium the riders had one tough day in the cold and rain. The stage started from Perwez and finished in Namur and was fairly long at 202 kilometers, with the crappy weather conditions and finish that featured “pave” or cobbles in the last 2 kilometers it really did look like a classic. All of the riders had a tough time with the weather and their were several crashes. Italian star Alessandro Petacchi had it the worst and I am sad to report that Petacchi is now out of the Giro after a nasty fall which left him with a hairline fracture in his knee cap.
With about 50k’s to the stage finish their was a nasty tangle up with about 5 or 6 riders “touching floor”, Petacchi mentioned he thought he would be ok as he started to pull his foot out of his cleat for extra stability. Then a rider behind him who was also maneurvering in hopes of staying upright hooked his handlebars and it was game over as they both came crashing down.
With an injury to ones kneecap the only real remedy is simply time, Petacchi is now out of the Giro and The Tour de France. Petacchi mentioned “I will not be able to ride the Tour. I hope for the Vuelta and Paris-Tours. This is the worst misfortune in my career, and I hope that it does not reveal to be any worse than it already seems.”
While Petacchi lost (and in a big way) the days winner Stefan Schumacher won in kick ass fashion as he counter attacked Rubiera in the last kilometer and then out sprinted the Discovery Channel rider. Schumacher who rides for Germany’s second largest team (Gerolsteiner) must have really enjoyed the victory and getting the leaders jersey after having a tough year last year with illness. The 24 year old rider said he would defend his lead in every possible way in Tuesday’s stage, if he manages to hang on to the pink leader jersey it will be intresting to watch the Gerolsteiner team on Thursday as they compete team against team in the team time trial.
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