Wow. Talk about coming out of NOWHERE. Check today's Giro results!!! Fast Freddy pulls one over on The Man Himself.

Petacchi is my favourite sprinter in a long, long time (since JaJa, really), and I enjoy seeing him looking even better than last year -- especially knowing what a marked man he is now. But Freddy Rodriguez has now finally validated why I've been a fan of his for so long, and why George Hincapie always maintained that FR is the top U.S. sprinter. I sincerely hope this is the breakthrough Freddy needs. Too bad he wasted a year riding for such an unfocussed team in '03.

And, both guys are just straight up cool dudes. FWIW, after all the argy bargy in the thread below, I have to say that, having met both FR AND Peta (at Interbike, separate occasions), they are 2 of the most genuinely cool and "real" pros (particularly considering the "alpha male" mentality necessary to be a top pro sprinter) in the peloton. Both genuinely seem to enjoy doing interviews, talks and signings, neither seems to have celebrity syndrome, nor have they fallen prey to their own hype a'la Cipo. Peta is extremely shy and his English isn't the best, but he still doesn't mind trying to chat a bit with the public, plus he rides about as honestly as any top sprinter can and still win. Freddy is a hoot, genuinely loves bike racing, rides like ten tigers despite never having had much team support, and always has fun, crazy stories to tell.

Dig seeing these guys going at it head to head. I'm so stoked for Freddy!

An American wins the first road stage in the Giro in 16 years and TV blacks out at the finish line... Hell has frozen over.. although not quite as frozen as Hampsten's win on the Gavia.

Wow. Talk about coming out of NOWHERE. Check today's Giro results!!!!

SWEET! way to REP-RE-SENT!!! maybe this result will give him that boost of confidence that will lead to more victories to come.

and it's good to see that not ALL the sprints are a foregone conclusion.

If you have a reasonable fast connection you can view two clips of today's race including the last 1km here:
http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/default/sport/overzicht/040516_giro_verslagrit9/

(top right two links under the header video)

From Alessandro's point of view Freddy really did come out from nowhere. The others waited as usual for him to initiate the sprint but Freddy jumped from farther behind just a few split seconds earlier and it was all over. No way Alessandro could respond quick enough with that big gear.

I thought Freddy did a great job of exploiting this opportunity...it almost looked like Petacchi had forgotten about him as a threat, getting too distracted by McEwan and the other sprinters...when Freddy jumped, it looked all Alessandro could do was say, "Oh, Sh!t!" and try to chase him down, which he almost did. Great race by Freddy,,,hooray for our boy(s)!

And Fred jumped with about 300 meters to go. He had to sustain that sprint into a head wind and up the little rise all the way to the line. Talk about serious wattage and the legs to last. Go Freddy, go!

that Petacchi almost caught him at the line. I don't know if Fred was letting up because he knew he had won...no one will know for sure, but one thing on which I know we all can agree, Petacchi is scary strong. My opinion, without taking anything away from Fred, is that his win was more tactical than overpowering. I don't think Petacchi saw it coming.

Hopefully <a href=http://forums.roadbikereview.com/member.php?u=174784>Spirito</a> knows that his homeboy took a stage. <a href=http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2004/giro04/index.php?id=stage9/s-rodriguez5838>Fast Freddy gets my vote for best helmet hair ever!</a>

Check this out:

Fast Freddy: "Doing my own sprint" (http://www.velonews.com/diaries/rider/articles/6097.0.html)

It's called TACTICS baby!!

Whew!!! 54x11...that makes my knees hurt just reading it. I am pretty awed by Cat 1-2-3 racers in general, but these pros are from a different planet. But he really was patient I believe in waiting for just the right stage to be Petacchi...Again Kudos to Freddy and the RWB.

yes Freddy pushed a mean gear and good to hear he and Ale Jet are good guys. A friend of mine just came back from Italy where he got to see a few stages. He's done some racing here (lower Cats) and he said he was just awed by the speed of the Pro Peloton. He caught stage 2 (Cunegos first win, or was that 3) on one of the lesser climbs and he swore the guys were doing the upper 20 to 30 mph up a fairly decent grade. He looked over the top of his camera (he was taking pix) and noticed right in the middle of the melee a couple Fassa guys just having a chat whilst going that speed uphill. Hopefully this victory will give Freddy a ticket to a better team. Maybe if Cippo retires he can get on with D.V., they already have the train in order, plus I'm sure Specialized would love to see an American on the squad.

it looked like Freddy got squeezed today. from the overhead today it looks like he needs to get a tad meaner when push comes to shove. it really is dog-eat-dog trying to jump Pet's. wheel.