Daily Peloton - Pro Cycling News

Giro d'Italia: The Prosciutto Report - Stage 6

By Locutus

Date: 5/14/2004

Giro d'Italia: The Prosciutto Report - Stage 6

Golden Hams of the Day

Alessandro "The Great" Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo). After another masterful and dominating setup by his teammates, the Italian Stallion delivered a convincing sprint that left him time and space to celebrate in style. This win puts him back in command of the Ciclamino Jersey by 14 points over McEwen. Some people were mumbling at the beginning of the Giro that Petacchi wasn't as sharp in the sprints as he was last year. Nobody's mumbling anything like that now.
Olaf "Zwei-man" Pollack (Gerolsteiner). Another fine sprint, and another 2nd place for the man from Gerolsteiner. He's now 3rd in the points competition, and seems to be the 2nd strongest sprinter in the race. If he keeps this up, sooner or later he's going to break through and get to that top step of the podium in this Giro.
Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner). He beat Alexandre "Bullwinkle" Moos (Phonak) in the only climb of the day, which thrust him back into the lead in the Green Jersey competition. He likely won't hold it long, though, as tomorrow's uphill finish will see the likes of Cunego and Simoni (Saeco) coming out to hammer their opponents again. Still, another strong ride by the young German, and another great day for the Gerolsteiner men.

Ham-Gazers of the Day

Robbie "Napoleon" McEwen (Lotto-Domo). The Little Emperor was positioned well today, mainly due to some great work by his team. However, he didn't have it in the final sprint. That just happens sometimes. He's still in 2nd in the Points competition, and if he decides to stick around, you can bet he'll continue to menace his rivals in the bunch sprints all the way to Milan.
Marco "Naughty" Zanotti (Vini Caldirola-Nobili). After his great performance yesterday, I was talking him up during the live ticker. Of course, he ended up in 114th place, 55" behind Petacchi. Perhaps it was the rain or the climb near the finish. Perhaps I cursed him. Whatever the reason, I still expect Zanotti to be near the front in the sprints to come.