First meeting for Petacchi with new sponsor Milram

By Tim Maloney, European Editor

Alessandro Petacchi and the rest of his new Milram team will meet from November 29th through Thursday December 1st at German dairy products giant Nordmilch at company headquarters in Bremen, Germany. It will be the first offical meeting with the management of Nordmilch's Milram brand and the team of Petacchi and Zabel, managed by Gianluigi Stanga. Nordmilch is one of the largest milk processors in Germany and ranks among the top ten inEurope. Milram makes products like Vitality dairy drinks, Burlander cheese and a wide assortment of other dairy products.

Other Milram team sponsors are Colnago bicycles, who delivered Petacchi's first bike earlier this month. “I’ve known Alessandro Petacchi for many years”, Ernesto Colnago told Cyclingnews. “He used to come to our old place on via Cavour when he was a junior and rode our bicycles for many years. We are very happy he is on the Milram team we will sponsor for the next three years.” Colnago reports Petacchi has already taken delivery of a special Colnago C50, and will also have a Colnago Cristallo and Extreme-C at his disposal in 2006.