Alessandro Petacchi

Career 1996–1999: The early years Born in La Spezia, Liguria, Petacchi turned professional in 1996 with . In the early years, he won small races – most notably a stage in Tour de Langkawi in 1998 and the mountains classification in the same race the year after. Petacchi rode his first Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España in 1997, where his best finish was 6th on stage 2. He rode his first Giro in 1998, where he recorded his best finish with an impressive fourth on stage 3 and several other top 10 finishes during the race. He later retired from the race on stage 18.

2000–2002: Fassa Bortolo In 2000, Petacchi signed for Fassa Bortolo. He got his breakthrough when he won his first Grand Tour stage in Vuelta a España on stage 7 in a sprint where he beat Giovanni Lombardi in a bunch sprint. He was initially assigned as Fabio Baldato's lead-out man at that year's Vuelta. He won another stage later in stage 11. He ended the year with nine victories.

2001 became a mediocre year for Petacchi in contrast to 2000. He decided to go to the Tour for the first time in his career, where he recorded several top 10 finishes and fourth in the points classification.

Petacchi got a great start to his 2002 campaign, when he won a stage in Tour Méditerranéen and two stages in Paris–Nice, where he also wore the leader jersey for two days. He came very close on winning a stage several times during the Giro d'Italia, where he got two second places and one third place. On the last stage, he lost to Mario Cipollini. He came to the Vuelta with ambitions to win some stages and the points classification, where he also won a stage, but ultimately became second in the points classification, beaten by Erik Zabel. He ended the year by being a part of the winning Italian lead-out train for Cipollini in the Road World Championship in Zolder.

2003–2007: Domination in the sprints Petacchi started the season strongly by winning Trofeo Luis Puig and a stage in both Vuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana and Paris–Nice. He continued his form going into the Giro. He won his first Giro stage on the first stage, beating the world champion Mario Cipollini in a head-to-head sprint. The stage win also gave Petacchi the maglia rosa. He wore the leader jersey for 5 days and was in all those days inside top 5 in every single stage and won two stages more in the process. He lost the jersey on the first mountain stage in stage 7. He later won three more stages in the race, bringing his Giro stage wins up to 6 stage wins, before leaving the race due to being outside the time limit on stage 18. He then rode Tour de France, where he won 4 stages – three stages in a row, before retiring on stage 7. He wore the green jersey when he retired. After riding the Eneco Tour, he decided to ride the Vuelta. He won five stages and became the third rider ever to have won a stage at each Grand Tour in a single year. He finished the season with 24 victories.

Petacchi started his 2004 season with three stage wins in Tirreno–Adriatico and a fourth-place finish in Milan–San Remo. Then he arrived at the Giro and won a record nine stages, the points classification and the Azzurri d'Italia classification. He attempted to recreate his 2003 season by participating in the Tour, however, it became a disappointment and he dropped out on stage 6 due to injuries. He bounced back in the Vuelta by winning four stages.

Petacchi started his 2005 season early by winning GP Costa Degli Etruschi and several stages of Vuelta an Andalucia. He then won three stages of Tirreno–Adriatico and finished 2nd in the general classification. He continued his great form by winning Milano-San Remo. He had the better of a mass sprint, beating Danilo Hondo, Thor Hushovd, Stuart O'Grady and Óscar Freire. He later won four stages of the Giro and five stages and the points classification of the Vuelta.

In July 2005, Petacchi announced that, following the decision to disband , he would join for the 2006 season. In August, sprinter rival Erik Zabel also joined the team, which fused with to become .

His explosive speed won him stages in all three of the Grand Tours. He withdrew from the 2006 Giro d'Italia after crashing during the third stage. He had finished the stage with a broken kneecap. It was the first time that Petacchi did not win a stage in the Giro since 2002.

In 2007, he won five stages in the Giro d'Italia, bringing his tally of ProTour victories to 21 and making him the rider with most UCI ProTour victories. During that season, he registered a success of prestige in Paris–Tours. With support from his teammate Erik Zabel, Petacchi was the victor in the mass gallop, with Francesco Chicchi and Óscar Freire rounding up the podium.

Doping allegations After he returned an "Adverse Analytical Finding" (AAF), a higher level than officially allowed of the asthma medication salbutamol, which Petacchi had clearance to use, he was placed on non-active status and missed the 2007 Tour de France. Petacchi was absolved when the Italian Cycling Federation ruled that overuse of Salbutamol was human error.

On 6 May 2008, the World Anti-Doping Agency won its challenge against the Italian national governing body at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Petacchi was banned from 1 November 2007 to 31 August 2008, and all competitive results obtained during the 2007 Giro d'Italia shall be disqualified with all of the resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes, including five Giro d'Italia stage wins. The court said Petacchi had not intended to cheat and that it was likely that he had inadvertently consumed too much medication, but he had not exercised "utmost caution." The case was considered controversial, as it kept Petacchi from starting the Tour de France as he had planned and for the court ruling that he should be suspended despite acknowledging that he had not cheated. Petacchi maintained that he had done no wrong.

As a result of this, on 16 May 2008, Petacchi was fired by . After his suspension he joined .

LPR Brakes and beyond After winning a few minor races in 2008, Petacchi started 2009 strongly by winning the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen semi-classic race. He was selected to ride the Giro d'Italia and won the second and third stages, wearing the pink jersey on stage 3 and the cyclamen jersey on stages 2 through 5.

Petacchi signed with for the 2010 season. Petacchi won that year the first and fourth stages of the Tour de France – his first stage wins in the race since 2003. Before going on to complete the grand slam as he won the green sprinters jersey to complete the feat at all the grand tours. In so doing, he was the 1st person to complete the feat since 1999 and the first Italian to win the points classification in the Tour de France since 1968.

He announced his retirement after the 2013 Paris–Roubaix, citing a lack of motivation to continue as a lead sprinter. However, he subsequently expressed a desire to take up an offer from the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team to ride as a lead-out man for Mark Cavendish, which he said was made to him days after his retirement. The contract offer was blocked by the UCI as it forbids riders from transferring from one team to another mid-season. In July 2013 Patrick Lefevere announced that Petacchi would be joining Omega Pharma–Quick-Step from the start of August on a 14-month contract. However, after racing in that year's Giro at the age of 41 and being forced to withdraw from the race one day before its conclusion due to a virus, Petacchi announced his second retirement from the sport in June 2015.

Second doping suspension On 14 May 2019, Petacchi was named by the French newspaper Le Monde as an alleged client of doctor Mark Schmidt, who administered illegal blood transfusion for the purpose of performance enhancement to athletes in what has become known as Operation Aderlass. Petacchi denied the accusations, but was nevertheless provisionally suspended by the UCI. He subsequently stepped down from his role as commentator for Italian state television RAI. On 24 August 2019, the UCI gave Petacchi a two-year ban from competition for his involvement with Schmidt.

Major results

1992 1st Stage 4 Giro della Lunigiana 1995 1st Gran Premio Comune di Cerreto Guidi Vuelta al Táchira 1st Stages 4 & 7 1997 8th Coppa Bernocchi 1998 1st Stage 6 Tour de Langkawi 9th Gran Premio Città di Rio Saliceto e Correggio 1999

3rd Giro del Lago Maggiore 4th Overall Tour of Sweden

7th Overall Tour de Langkawi

7th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 2000

1st Stage 2 Vuelta a España 1st Stages 8 & 12 Route du Sud 1st Stages 1a & 2 1st Stage 3a Regio-Tour 10th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 1st Stages 3 & 5 10th Paris–Tours 2001 Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda

1st Stages 2 & 5 1st Stage 4 Tour de Pologne 1st Stage 4 Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 1st Stage 4a Euskal Bizikleta 7th Paris–Tours 8th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 2002 Paris–Nice

1st Stages 1 & 5 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana

1st Stages 1, 2 & 3 Tour Méditerranéen

1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 5 Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 1st Stages 1b, 2 & 3 1st Stage 12 Vuelta a España 1st Stage 3 Ronde van Nederland 1st Stage 3 Regio-Tour 5th Rund um den Henninger Turm 2003 1st Trofeo Luis Puig 1st Dwars door Gendringen Tour de France 1st Stages 1, 3, 5 & 6

Giro d'Italia 1st Stages 1, 5, 6, 13, 16 & 17

Vuelta a España 1st Stages 3, 5, 12, 14 & 21

Vuelta a Aragón

1st Stages 2, 4 & 5 Ronde van Nederland 1st Stages 1 & 2 1st Stage 1 Paris–Nice 1st Stage 5 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2nd Paris–Tours 2004 Giro d'Italia

1st Azzurri d'Italia classification 1st Stages 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 & 21 Combativity award Overall Vuelta a España 1st Stages 2, 4, 7 & 13 Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stages 1, 2 & 7 Vuelta a Aragón

1st Stages 2 & 5 Giro della Provincia di Lucca 1st Stages 1 & 2 1st Stage 3 Ronde van Nederland 2nd Millemetri del Corso di Mestre 4th Milan–San Remo 2005

1st Stages 1, 2 & 5 1st Milan–San Remo 1st Trofeo Luis Puig 1st Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi Giro d'Italia 1st Azzurri d'Italia classification 1st Stages 9, 12, 15 & 20 Vuelta a España

1st Stages 3, 4, 8, 12 & 21 Tour de Romandie 1st Stages 1 & 2 Vuelta a Andalucía 1st Stages 4 & 5 Vuelta a Aragón 1st Stages 1 & 3 2nd Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stages 1, 6 & 7 3rd Giro della Provincia di Lucca 4th Coppa Bernocchi 2006

1st Stages 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 1st Giro della Provincia di Lucca 1st Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi Tirreno–Adriatico

1st Stage 7 Vuelta a Andalucía

1st Stages 3 & 4 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana

1st Stages 2 & 3 2nd Milan–San Remo 3rd Gent–Wevelgem 8th Trofeo Città di Borgomanero (with Alberto Ongarato) 2007

1st Stages 3, 4 & 5

1st Stages 1, 2 & 4 1st Paris–Tours 1st Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi Giro d'Italia

1st Azzurri d'Italia classification 1st Stages 3, 7, 11, 18 & 21 Combativity award Overall Vuelta a España 1st Stages 11 & 12 1st Stage 2 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 1st Stage 1 Regio-Tour 3rd Rund um Köln 6th Memorial Cimurri 8th Milan–San Remo 2008 1st Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 1st Memorial Viviana Manservisi Tour of Britain 1st Stages 1, 6 & 8 Vuelta a Andalucía

1st Stages 3, 4 & 5 Tour of Turkey 1st Stages 1 & 6 1st Stage 4 Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stage 5 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2009 1st Scheldeprijs 1st Giro di Toscana 1st Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi Giro d'Italia 1st Stages 2 & 3

Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda

1st Stages 1 (TTT), 2 & 4 1st Stage 2 Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stage 5 Giro di Sardegna 2nd Overall Delta Tour Zeeland 1st Stage 1 4th Giro del Friuli 5th Milan–San Remo 2010 1st Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi Tour de France

1st Stages 1 & 4 Giro di Sardegna

1st Stage 3 1st Stage 7 Vuelta a España 1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse 3rd Milan–San Remo 10th Overall Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 1st Stages 2 & 4 2011 Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 2

Tour of Turkey

1st Stage 4 1st Stage 2 Volta a Catalunya 2012 Bayern Rundfahrt

1st Stages 1, 3 & 5 2013 4th Trofeo Palma de Mallorca 7th Trofeo Campos–Santanyí–Ses Salines 2014 1st Grand Prix Pino Cerami 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tirreno–Adriatico 4th Scheldeprijs

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Classics results timeline Monument 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Milan–San Remo — 168 109 25 — 17 DNF 4 1 2 8 18 5 3 12 DNF 65 DNF Tour of Flanders — — — — DNF DNF — — — DNF — — — — — — DNF — Paris–Roubaix — DNF — — — — — — — — — — — — — — DSQ — Liège–Bastogne–Liège — DNF — DNF — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Giro di Lombardia DNF — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

+ Legend— Did not compete DNF Did not finish DSQ DisqualifiedNo. Voided result