Proud Pinarello punches up Petacchi's perch

Alessandro Petacchi's bike sponsor Pinarello is understandably more than a little happy at the Italian sprinter's domination of the stage finishes so far at the year's Giro d'Italia. Out of the seven 'sprinter's stages' so far, Petacchi has landed five of them aboard his magnesium Pinarello Dogma.

Petacchi features in Pinarello's latest ad campaign for the Dogma, but as if to prove that racing really does improve the breed as well as sell it, Fassa Bortolo has been riding on beefed up Dogma frames since Milan-San Remo. The seat tube and chainstays have gained 0.15mm thicker walls to stiffen them - exactly the kind of improvement you'd expect a sprinter such as Petacchi to ask for.

Fausto Pinarello told Cyclingnews, "Our philosphy at Cicli Pinarello is that we constantly try to improve our products."

It doesn't take a very close examination to see that configuration of Petacchi's bike is designed to deliver him to the line as quickly as possible over that final few hundred metres. Petacchi is relatively tall for a pro cyclist at 184cm (just over six feet) but with a 140mm stem, a 58.5cm top tube and a huge drop from the saddle to the bottom of his 44cm wide Merckx-style bars, his set-up would still have normal mortals feeling like they were stretched on a rack. It obviously works for him, though.

As Dr. Ferrari has observed, Petacchi adopts a "particularly penetrating aerodynamic profile" in a stage finale, which is essential if you're going to cover 100m at 67km/h. "Whenever he launches the sprint, Petacchi takes a very low position with the head," observes Dr Ferrari, "while the shoulders shrink to his neck and sides: he definitely looks like a torpedo!"

Frame: Pinarello Dogma-Milano-San Remo / Dedacciai AK61 Magnesium
54 seattube X 58.5 toptube (c-c)
Fork: Pinarello Onda
Colour: Fassa Team Blue (note new FB team graphic)
Cranks: Campagnolo Record 175mm / 53X39
Bottom bracket: Campagnolo Record
Chain: Campagnolo Record
Front derailleur: Campagnolo Record
Rear derailleur: Campagnolo Record 10V.
Brakes: Campagnolo Record
Levers: Campagnolo Record
Rear sprockets: Campagnolo Record 11-21
Wheels: Mavic Cosmic Carbone Tubular
Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Evo CX Tubulars
Stem: Deda Newton 140mm
Bars: Deda 44cm (non-anatomic)
Headset: Campagnolo Record integrated
Pedals: Look CX7
Seat post: Pinarello Carbon
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR Carbonio

This page was last edited on 01/14/2005