Alessandro Petacchi to miss race with bronchitis
Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) will start his 2011 season at this weekend’s Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria, meaning that the Piccolo Principe will begin a week earlier than last year. The three day stage race, one day less than last year, takes place on the very toe of Italy and offers the Italian sprinters to get some results under their belts.
“The Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria will be the season’s debut for Damiano Cunego,” said sport director Orlando Maini, “where we hope he will find the right sensations in the competition. We won’t be able to rely on [Alessandro] Petacchi though, his bronchitis has worsened considerably at the last moment, forcing Alessandro to abandon his participation.
“We expect to see sprints from [Leonardo] Bertagnolli and [Daniele] Pietroplolli,” he added, “and we will be looking carefully at the condition of our athletes.”
Petacchi started his season at the race last year, where he won stages two and four; it marked the beginning of his most successful season for a number of years where, despite abandoning the Giro d’Italia, his wins included two stages of the Tour de France and the green points jersey.
“I’m happy that I’m going to start racing,” said Cunego, “I always like the atmosphere of the race. I won’t judge my performance based on the results, but I will pay attention to my feelings in the race. It’s a pity that Petacchi won’t be there, he would have been a contender.”
Lampre-ISD team for Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria:
Damiano Cunego, Leonardo Bertagnolli, Francesco Gavazzi, Dmytro Krivtos, Vitaliy Kondrut, Enrico Magazzini, Daniele Pietropolli, Balint Szeghalmi and Diego Ulissi.