Alessandro Petacchi: Rider Profile

Alessandro Petacchi on the podium after winning the 2014 Grand Prix Pino Cerami

(Image credit: Graham Watson)

published 26 March 2009

Date of birth: 03/01/1974

From: La Spezia, Italy

A winless year at Navigare followed but it was at Fasso Bortolo under the tutelage of the formidable Giancarlo Ferretti that the Italian flourished. Petacchi's first Grand Tour stage wins came in 2000, taking two wins at the Vuelta. 2003 saw the man from La Spezia take stages in all three of the Grand Tours but 2004 was his most prolific; nine stage wins at the Giro and four at the Vuelta was an astonishing performance as Petacchi dominated the sprint finishes of nearly every race he entered.

Controversy struck in 2007, when the Italian returned a ‘non-negative' test for excess levels of salbutamol, an asthma medication at that year's Giro. He had a Therapeutic Use Exemption certificate for the drug, but the level was recorded at 320mg/ml above the 1000mg/ml limit allowed and was suspended immediately by his Milram team. The Italian Olympic Committee ruled that the he had no intention to dope and its use had only been therapeutic, but by this time the damage had been done and he was banned from racing for twelve months, which was later reduced to take into account the period during which he was suspended.

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