Bicycling magazine | Mountains Hammer Cyclists

Bicycling Magazine's TourdeFranceNews.com site has a column from Cyrile Guimard. Guimard coached Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond (Bicycling calls him "the John Madden of cycling"), and had nothing kind to say about Petacchi's exit:

I don't know if Alessandro Petacchi learned anything or not today, but his ridiculous abandon on the first climb was even more insulting to the Tour organizers than those of Cipollini in past years. Sure he won four stages, but still, you don't quit the Tour de France like that. It's simply a matter of principle. I hope he never needs to benefit from a Tour de France wildcard bid in the future, because after his move today, he won't get any favors from the race organizers.