Italian Alessandro Petacchi, one of the favorites to take the men’s road race title in Madrid on Sunday, has inked a three-year deal with the newly formed Milram professional team.

The 31-year-old Italian, who has been the Fassa Bortolo team's shining star for the past few years winning stages in all three big Tours, will be joined by German rival Erik Zabel.

Zabel, 35, the former six-time winner of the Tour de France green jersey for the sprinters' points competition, also signed a three-year deal.

Petacchi, however, failed to show at the team presentation because he was due to attend an official Italy team presentation shortly afterwards.

The 25-strong Milram team will participate in the 25-race Pro Tour in 2006 and is made up mainly of riders from Domina Vacanze and the German team Wiesenhof.

It will take Domina Vacanze's place on the International Cycling Union (UCI) Pro Tour.

Gianluigi Stanga, the current Domina Vacanze team manager, will lead the new Germano-Italian team, whose sponsor is part of the Nordmilch food company.

In Petacchi's absence, Zabel - who suffered the indignity of being left off T-Mobile's team for the Tour de France this year - said he was delighted to pursue his career at the top level.

"Milram allows me the chance to pursue races which are very dear to me, such as the Tour de France which wasn't possible at T-Mobile," said Zabel.

“I've got everything I need here to be happy - a solid team, good riders and a great team manager (Stanga)."

The German veteran was quick to rule out however the suggestion that his services might come in handy for Petacchi in Sunday's championship, a 273km road race round the streets of the Spanish capital. Zabel, also a four-time winner of the prestigious one-day classic Milan-San Remo, added: "A perfect scenario for me would be a mass sprint of 14 or 15 riders."