From the joy of the victory to the sadness of a withdrawal in only two days: that’s what happened to Alessandro Petacchi, who had won the 6th stage and today had to quit the 8th stage of Vuelta a Espana.
The sprinter by Lampre-Farnese Vini left the race after 47 km from the start in Calpe, because of the consequences of the crash that saw him involved in the early kilometres of yesterday stage.
in addition to a wound on the right elbow, Petacchi had reached the arrival, but then he went to Alicante hospital with the team doctor Beltemacchi: there x-ray ruled out fractures, but it was necessary to gave stitches on the elbow, as explained by dr Beltemacchi: “In addition to the abrasions, there was the wound on the elbow that worried me, and in fact it was necessary to give stitches and to begin an antibiotic cure. After a night during which Alessandro oculd not sleep, his arm was blubber and the athlete had pain on the back and on the buttock. Petacchi tried to stick out, but he could not hold the handlebar and he was pedalling in a bad position, so it was not possible to go on in this way”.
Petacchi is very sad: “It’s a pity to quit the race right now that my legs were going better and better. Anyway, I couldn’t do anything: the crash gave me bad consequences: the abrasions were so large that I couldn’t go to the masseur and during the night I could not sleep. In addition, today I can’t hold the handlebar. The only comfort is that I could win one stage before the crash”.