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Monday, August 24, 2009 Petacchi to Lampre-NGC by VeloNation Press at 7:53 PM EST   comments Categories: Pro Cycling   It's official, Lampre-NGC has signed sprinter Alessandro Petacchi for two years. Petacchi was under contract with the LPR-Brakes team until 2010, but management has allowed the Italian to terminate his commitment and make the move When Petacchi's LPR-Brakes team was not invited to the Tour de France or the Vuelta a España, he decided if he were to continue racing, he must do so with a ProTour team that will be afforded automatic invitations to all of the big races. Aside from the performance aspect being on a second-division team, the complications from the positive doping test of Danilo Di Luca raises doubts as to whether team management will be able to find a replacement sponsor for 2010. The 35-year-old is one of the few sprinters that have been able to beat Columbia-HTC's Mark Cavendish this season, and the last to have crossed the line first in a sprint finish including the Manxman.       comments Follow @Pro_Cycling Tweet Subscribe via RSS or daily email Contact the editor about this article