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Tuesday's EuroFile: Bennati pips Petacchi at Valenciana; Pozzato targets Het Volk

Published: Feb. 27, 2007
Bennati - here winning stage 2 at the Tour of the Mediterranean - is starting his season with a bang.
Bennati - here winning stage 2 at the Tour of the Mediterranean - is starting his season with a bang.
Photo: AFP (file photo/i>)

Any sprint victory with Alessandro Petacchi among protagonists is one worth celebrating, especially when it comes in the run-up to the season’s most important race for Italian sprinters.

Daniele Bennati (Lampre) snatched a morale-boosting victory ahead of next month’s Milan-San Remo after he surprised a leg-heavy Petacchi, who was forced to chase back from a puncture with nine kilometers to go in the 162.7km Valenciana opener in Alzira.

“I knew the only chance to beat Petacchi was to anticipate his sprint and I did that today just at the right moment,” said Bennati, who held off Petacchi by half a bike length to surge into the first leader’s jersey at 65th Volta a Comunidad Valenciana.

“Today I had good legs and I started my sprint just at the right moment,” continued Bennati, an up-and-coming Italian sprinter. “If I can do this at Milan-San Remo, maybe I can beat him there, too.”

Milan-San Remo’s finishing straight on the Via Roma is on everyone’s mind, at least among the gaggle of big-time sprinters who’ve showed up for this five-stage race past the orange groves of Spain’s stunning Valencia region.

Petacchi won the overall here two years and wants to continue honing his improving form following his hat trick and overall victory at the Tour of the Algarve last weekend in Portugal.

“Baagh, it was hard after puncturing so late in the stage. It cost a lot to chase back on,” shrugged Petacchi, who flatted his front tire and was towed back by three Milram teammates. “Today I thought about my sprint too long and Bennati beat me to it. I tried to come around him, but I was a little flat in the legs. I count today as an unlucky day.”

If Petacchi wants to win his second MSR in three years, he’ll have to keep an eye on the 26-year-old Bennati. A pro since 2002, Bennati is just hitting his stride, notching nine victories in 2006 and entering the 2007 season with newfound confidence.

“I had some health problems at the beginning of last year, but I was able to overcome them and now I feeling very strong for this year,” said Bennati, who also won a stage in the Tour Mediterranean earlier this month. “This win is important, but I also know that Petacchi was tired after chasing back from his flat. I want to keep tranquil during this race and at Paris-Nice. Everything’s possible in Milan-San Remo.”

For everyone else, the five-day Valencia tour is just getting started. Such riders as Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) as well as Oscar Sevilla (Relax-GAM) and Enrique Gutiérrez (Team LPR), two riders implicated in the Operación Puerto investigation.

This year’s course features some difficult climbs, including a Cat. 1 in Wednesday’s second stage and the Cat. 1 summit finish in Friday’s decider ahead of Saturday’s flat finale.

For Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne), a winner here in 2004, the Valencia race is a stepping stone for larger goals that come later in the season.

“I am just kind of stretching my legs in this race, but it was very fast today,” Valverde said. “I really don’t want to hit a peak until the Basque tour and the spring classics and then build up again for the Tour.”

In Tuesday’s opener, three riders – Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom), Andrian Palomares (Fuerteventura-Canarias) and Emanuele Sella (Ceramiche Panaria-Navigare) – slipped away in the opening 17km with Voeckler claiming the KOM points over the day’s main obstacle at the Cat. 3 Alto de Barcheta at 20.4km.

Caisse d’Epargne, working for its sprint talent Vicente Reynes, upped the tempo once the trio opened up more than seven minutes on the main pack, with Milram, Benfica and Nicolas Mateo lending a hand.

The trio floated about three minutes off the front with 50km to go and Voeckler hit the deck at about 20km to go, but was otherwise unhurt and arrived with the main pack to collect his climber’s jersey.

Sella and Palomares were reeled in with 11km to go and Petacchi’s luck turned sour with his front flat tire with about 9km to go.

The Valenciana tour continues Wednesday is a bumpy second stage along Spain’s spectacular Costa Blanca. The Cat. 1 Coll de Rates in the opening 40km should split the peloton and two more Cat. 3s in the final 60km could give any breakaway some running room. There’s a short punchy climb to the finish in Calp that could spring the likes of Valverde if he’s up for a run for victory.

Grillo ‘inapt’ ahead of Valencia start
Paride Grillo, a rider on the Ceramiche Panaria-Navigare team, was not allowed to start Tuesday’s opener at the Volta a la Comunidad Valenciana after being tested “inapt” in surprise, pre-race blood screenings.

Grillo, a 24-year-old Italian considered an up-and-coming sprinter, will be sidelined for 15 days.

The UCI’s “vampires” tested 48 riders from six teams (Euskaltel-Euskadi, Panaria, Benfica, Karpin-Galicia, Grupo Nicolas Mateos and Relax-GAM) early Tuesday morning before the start the 162.7km first stage. Grillo was the only rider to have tested unfit.

The routine blood screenings measure the percentage of hematocrit, or red blood cells, in an athlete’s system. Levels above 50 percent are considered unhealthy and may indicate but not prove possible tampering. Riders are given a forced 15-day rest and then required to submit to another screening before resuming competition.

Pippo thanks team, targets Het Volk
Filippo Pozzato toasted his Liquigas teammates for guiding him to victory in Sunday’s Tour du Haut-Var in France. Up next for the defending Milan-San Remo champion are Het Volk and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne this weekend in Belgium.

“This is a team win. We have been protagonists from the first to the last kilometer, and during the final sprint I [was] led out by Kuchynski in a masterly manner. My dedication is for my teammates,” Pozzato said in a team release. “The Liquigas Team would have deserved to break the ice during the previous races, this victory will be useful to our morale.”