2010 Lampre–Farnese Vini season
The matter remained unresolved at the time of the Tour Down Under, meaning the team missed the first major race of the season, but during January the UCI issued a temporary licence as a member of the ProTour until the end of March.
Performing his signature long, early sprint, Petacchi was delivered to the line by his leadout train just ahead of fellow Italians Alberto Loddo and Fabio Sabatini.
[3] After missing the Tour Down Under, the team's season began with the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria.
Petacchi won the mass sprint finish to stage 2, getting a leadout from new teammate Hondo which delivered him to the line ahead of the rest of the peloton.
With another field sprint being set up, a spectator reached over a guardrail to take a picture and his arm struck Petacchi, who crashed.
[9] He was able to enter the race's final stage the next day and emerge as the winner of the points classification, despite being defeated by Alberto Loddo in the sprint.
When race leader Vincenzo Nibali crashed and needed a bike change, Alexander Vinokourov, Cadel Evans, Cunego, and others broke away and left him behind.
Cunego climbed Monte Terminillo with Evans, Vinokourov, Ivan Basso, and Stefano Garzelli to sixth place.
On what had seemed a straightforward sprint stage, a ten-rider breakaway including most of the Giro's overall contenders slipped away in the final kilometers and finished 10 seconds ahead of the peloton.
Righi, for his part, tried to obstructively ride a slower pace and allow Cunego, who had made the split, a better chance at the stage win.
[23] Cunego was dropped by the race's favorites on the ascent of Monte Grappa in stage 14, and finished eighth, ceding two minutes to them.
After a flurry of attacks and counter-attacks on the stage-concluding climb to Pejo Terme, Hondo approached the finish in the leading group with Steven Kruijswijk and Damien Monier.
[28] Cunego had a bad day on stage 19, losing eight minutes on the Passo del Mortirolo and falling back out of the top ten.
[29] In stage 20, Simoni broke away with Bbox Bouygues Telecom's Johan Tschopp and approached the summit of the Passo di Gavia, the race's highest climb with him.
Petacchi was one of only five riders who avoided being caught up in the crashes, and won the stage ahead of Mark Renshaw, Thor Hushovd, Robbie McEwen, and Mathieu Ladagnous.
A member of the morning breakaway, Gavazzi slipped on the Col du Stockeu in Spa, and as a camera bike swerved to avoid hitting him, it too crashed, causing motor oil to spill on the roadway.
The oil trickled well downhill, and by the time the peloton came through about five minutes later, it was all over the road, leading to the crashes of some 60 riders from nearly every team in the race.
He, Sandy Casar, and Luis León Sánchez sought the stage win with Christophe Moreau, Anthony Charteau, and bridging overall favorites Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck just behind them.
[38] Petacchi and Hushovd spent the majority of the second half of the Tour disputing the points classification green jersey.
The squad's highest-placed rider in the final overall standings was Cunego in 29th, at a deficit of 56 minutes and 53 seconds to Tour champion Contador.
