Team News: Alessandro Petacchi joins Quickstep

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Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi has joined Omega Pharma Quickstep to improve its sprint train

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News this morning that from today, August 1, Alessandro Petacchi, is now officially a Quickstep rider. After a classics season where the team of former World Champion Mark Cavendish had a less than successful time getting its sprint train going in contrast to teams like Lotto, boss Patrick Lefevere has been out scouting for riders and the first to join is Petacchi.

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Petacchi  winning a stage of the Tour of Britain in Liverpool. He also won a stage in London and another during the 2008 edition.

Mark Renshaw is another said to be joining the team.

With Cavendish facing the challenge of other sprinters far more than he ever has in his career, the importance of the sprint train has grown to deliver him to a place in the sprint where his speed will be enough to hold off the challenges of Marcel Kittel and others. ‘AleJet’ has signed a contract until the end of 2014 and is one of the most victorious riders in the history of the sport with an impressive 160 wins in a career spanning 18 years.

That includes wins in the Tour of Britain. Petacchi also holds the enviable record of nine stage wins in the 2004 Giro d’Italia. Interviewed on the Quickstep website he says “It’s going to be a lovely moment (to wear the jersey for the first time). In my career, I’ve been lucky enough to experience some extreme thrills. To get back in the game so close to turning 40 with this great team is, however, an incredible feeling.”

Petacchi will start racing at Kortrijk on August 8th and will then do another keremesse on the 10th. After that there’s the Eneco Tour which Petacchi, says is “a perfect race to get back into the swing of things after an inactive period. It may take me a while to get back into a competitive rhythm, but I can’t wait to get started!”
Without talking about Cavendish specifically, perhaps because Mark Renshaw will fill the role of the British riders main leadout man, Petacchi says of his role “I joined this team to take on a different role, to be a team player, especially when it comes to the sprints. The primary objective is to be useful to the team when necessary and to put my experience to the service of the younger riders.”

That may well mean being more a mentor to the team and riders such as young British sprinter Andy Fenn.

 

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