You Gotta Love a Sprinter Like This!

I lack proper respect for sprinters.
Maybe it's a lack of my own fast-twitch muscles.
But it seems to be that sprinters pick from the low-hanging (stage) fruit. Not fair, but this is a blog. I don't have to be fair!

But I gained some respect for Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi, who is out of the Giro d'Italia after fracturing his left kneecap during a fall in Monday's third stage to Namur in Belgium (photo at the left is by Graham Watson). Petacchi, who has 19 career stage wins (all sprints, I imagine) in the Giro, may be out of the Tour de France as well.

But here's what impressed me: Petacchi, who is 32, finished the stage! And before he knew the extent of the injury, he wanted to make it through Tuesday's fourth stage in Belgium before a rest day as the race moves to Italy.

"I fell and hurt my knee. I felt the pain immediately. My knee swelled up, perhaps because of the cold, and I struggled after that," said Petacchi. "In the final stages I was able to step it up a bit which gives me some hope."

Step it up? With a fractured kneecap? Instead, his race is over, and he will return to Italy to undergo surgery. But only a cyclist.