Italian Alessandro Petacchi of the Italian-German outfit Milram will ride the Oddset-Rundfahrt (formerly Niedersachsen Rundfahrt) in April, the organisers announced today. The sprinter will use the race scheduled for April 19-23 to prepare himself for the Giro d'Italia. "Petacchi's start is of course a sensation for us," said German race director Otto Pätzold. "I'm sure that he will leave his mark on the flat stages of the Tour and he might even be one of the favourites."
Erik Zabel's participation had been discussed but the German will be competing in the Belgian Classics Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in that period of time.
