Alessandro Petacchi

Alessandro Petacchi
Petacchi at the 2015 Brabantse Pijl.
Personal information
Full nameAlessandro Petacchi
NicknameAleJet
Born (1974-01-03) 3 January 1974 (age 50)
La Spezia, Italy
Height1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight75 kg (165 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeSprinter
Professional teams
1996–1999Scrigno–Blue Storm
2000–2005Fassa Bortolo
2006–2008Team Milram
2008–2009LPR Brakes–Ballan
2010–2013Lampre–Farnese Vini
2013–2014Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2015Southeast Pro Cycling[1]
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
Points classification (2010)
6 individual stages (2003, 2010)
Giro d'Italia
Points classification (2004)
22 individual stages (2003–2005, 2009, 2011)
Vuelta a España
Points classification (2005)
20 individual stages (2000, 2002–2005, 2007, 2010)

One-day races and Classics

Milan–San Remo (2005)
Paris–Tours (2007)
Scheldeprijs (2009)

Alessandro Petacchi (born 3 January 1974) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1996 and 2015. A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 48 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010. He also won the classics Milan – San Remo in 2005[2] and Paris–Tours in 2007.[3] His career spanned over 18 years during which he earned 183 victories.[4]

In 2007, Petacchi was banned from cycling and had his results achieved disqualified for doping. The court later said that he had not cheated on purpose but had not taken enough care when consuming his legal asthma drug.[5] He announced his retirement as a lead sprinter on 23 April 2013, and terminated his contract at Lampre–Merida,.[4][6] He rejoined the professional peloton in August 2013, joining the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step squad as a lead-out man.[7][8] In 2015, he joined the Southeast team, where he retired from cycling for good after that year's Giro d'Italia.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference nri was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference MSR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference PT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b "Petacchi announces retirement". MSN Sports. Microsoft. pa.press.net. 23 April 2013. Archived from the original on 6 June 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Innocently Guilty – the Petacchi case". CyclingNews.com. 9 May 2008. Archived from the original on 11 August 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  6. ^ "Lampre–Merida (LAM) – ITA". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  7. ^ "Petacchi to start with Omega Pharma-Quickstep August 1". Cyclingnews.com. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  8. ^ Farrand, Stephen (24 April 2013). "Could Petacchi come back as a lead-out man?". Cycling news. Future Publishing. Retrieved 26 April 2013.