Alessandro Petacchi joined Omega Pharma-Quick Step earlier this season after a brief retirement and the veteran sprinter is now ready to end his career as a lead-out-man. He hopes to return to the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France to support Mark Cavendish.
Mark Cavendish had a difficult Tour de France. He won two stages but his lead-out train was clearly outgunned by the superior forces from Lotto Belisol and Argos-Shimano and often left the Brit in a bad position when the sprints were launched.
Already at the Scheldeprijs, Cavendish and team manager Patrick Lefevre expressed concern over the support of the Manxman and so the team reacted swiftly. They tried to sign Alessandro Petacchi as a lead-out man after the veteran had got tired of the pressure of having to deliver results himself.
Due to UCI rules, Petacchi had to wait until August 1 to join the team and so enjoyed a short time in retirement. He was back in action in the Eneco Tour and while he has mostly raced for himself this year, his main role will be to work for Cavendish in the biggest races.
The Italian is looking forward to going back to the biggest races in a support role.
"It's been a great opportunity," he told Cycling Weekly at the Tour of Beijing. "After I decided to quit they gave me this opportunity with them and Mark. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do the Tour with them, but... I'll get through the season and then plan for next year. I hope to have another chance to do so again, to race the Giro and Tour with Mark."
Petacchi got his first taste of leading out Cavendish in the Tour of Britain where the duo proved to be a successful one as the Brit won three stages in his home race.
"Whoever is in your wheel has to put faith in you," Petacchi said "You have to do what you can to put him in the best position. That's important for me to show, as I did in Great Britain. We worked well together. We did three sprints and three wins, that's important for the team and morale. Clearly, though, it was different than sprinting in the Giro or Tour."
Petacchi is not the only addition to the lead-out train. Mark Renshaw who was Cavendish's successful pilot at HTC-Highroad, will rejoin the Brit after a less successful attempt to be a sprinter in his own right at Belkin. Petacchi expects their cooperation to be seamless.
"The train will be stronger, for sure," he said. "We have different characteristics. We both know our moments, when one is going stronger and he can let the other take over the job. That's going to be important for Mark."
Petacchi ended his season today when he sprinted to 7th in the final stage of the Tour of Beijing.
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