what happened to Petacchi?

At the end of Thursday's Giro stage on an uphill sprint, it looked like Petacchi had caught and was about to pass Ventoso. They were the only two in contention for the win.

But just then, right before the line, Petacchi stopped pedaling. I've never seen anything like it in those circumstances.

Ventoso's explanation follows, but I still find it so weird that Petacchi just stopped pedaling. The tv announcers seemed befuddled by it too as did Matt Goss, I think, from HTC, who had joined them.

Said Ventoso (from velonews):

“I had this stage marked with an ‘X’ because I knew the uphill would favor me, but I thought Petacchi was going to get it,” the 29-year-old told reporters. “I followed his wheel up the climb. He cracked with 20 meters to go and I was able to win."

yirgster wrote:
At the end of Thursday's Giro stage on an uphill sprint, it looked like Petacchi had caught and was about to pass Ventoso. They were the only two in contention for the win.

But just then, right before the line, Petacchi stopped pedaling. I've never seen anything like it in those circumstances.

Ventoso's explanation follows, but I still find it so weird that Petacchi just stopped pedaling. The tv announcers seemed befuddled by it too as did Matt Goss, I think, from HTC, who had joined them.

Said Ventoso (from velonews):

“I had this stage marked with an ‘X’ because I knew the uphill would favor me, but I thought Petacchi was going to get it,” the 29-year-old told reporters. “I followed his wheel up the climb. He cracked with 20 meters to go and I was able to win."

The RAI coverage had their camera on him trying to interview him right
after the sprint and he looked completely cooked and was breathing too
hard to talk for a while.

Simply Fred a écrit profondement:

| The RAI coverage had their camera on him trying to interview him right
| after the sprint and he looked completely cooked and was breathing too
| hard to talk for a while.

He Blew Up pure and simple

--
Davey Crockett
Flying the Flag of the English
The Flag of Hengest and Horsa
http://usera.imagecave.com/daveycroc...lishdragon.jpg

On May 13, 3:39*am, yirgster wrote:
At the end of Thursday's Giro stage on an uphill sprint, it looked like Petacchi had caught and was about to pass Ventoso. They were the only two in contention for the win.

But just then, right before the line, Petacchi stopped pedaling. I've never seen anything like it in those circumstances.

Ventoso's explanation follows, but I still find it so weird that Petacchi just stopped pedaling. The tv announcers seemed befuddled by it too as did Matt Goss, I think, from HTC, who had joined them.

Said Ventoso (from velonews):

“I had this stage marked with an ‘X’ because I knew the uphill would favor me, but I thought Petacchi was going to get it,” the 29-year-old told reporters. “I followed his wheel up the climb. He cracked with 20 meters to go and I was able to win."

Might have been a "cramp"; might have been inability to move the
legs-- a temporary disruption of the Krebs cycle, as it were.

For Ventoso: "The Agony of Victory".

For Pettachi, IMHO, an exhibition far more impressive than taking the
V after being delivered by his train on a flat run-in to the finish
line.

A pleasure to see two top pro dogs who just wanted to lie down and
puke-- or at least breathe hard for a few minutes-- after a ding-dong
sprint.
Not for enjoying their pain and suffering (no no no, "BTDT!"), but for
the "Real" and the "How Bad Do You Want It" factors. Truly, a thing of
honor, and beauty.
Bravo! (Not to mention getting up and doing it again the next day, and
again, etc.)
--D-y

I guess his asthma cleared up.

On May 13, 6:02*am, Davey Crockett wrote:
Simply Fred a écrit profondement:

| The RAI coverage had their camera on him trying to interview him right
| after the sprint and he looked completely cooked and was breathing too
| hard to talk for a while.

He Blew Up pure and simple

Possibly, though I've never seen a sprinter of the caliber of Petacchi
quit so close to the line, when he clearly could have won.

Brad Anders a écrit profondement:

| On May 13, 6:02*am, Davey Crockett wrote:
| Simply Fred a écrit profondement:
|
| | The RAI coverage had their camera on him trying to interview him right
| | after the sprint and he looked completely cooked and was breathing too
| | hard to talk for a while.
|
| He Blew Up pure and simple

| Possibly, though I've never seen a sprinter of the caliber of Petacchi
| quit so close to the line, when he clearly could have won.

Well if it had been Kelly, or Anquetil, I would have expected that a
nice contribution to his retirement fund might have had something to do
with it.

--
Davey Crockett
Flying the Flag of the English
The Flag of Hengest and Horsa
http://usera.imagecave.com/daveycroc...lishdragon.jpg