It was a sprinters' finish in the Giro d' Italia on Sunday at the end of the 129-mile bicycle race between Reggio Calabria (at the toe of the boot) to Tropea.
According to the live call from CyclingNews, the Fassa Bortolo team tried to propel its sprinter, Alessandro Petacchi, to the finish line. But rival sprinters Paolo Bettini and Robbie McEwan hooked on and took advantage of Fassa Bortolo's strength. Bettini attacked at the end, winning the stage and taking the pink leader's jersey. McEwan, Petacchi and Baden Cooke followed.
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team's Paolo Savoldelli, the winner in 2002, sits in fourth overall, but his teammates have all dropped out of the top 20.
The overall rankings (which can be viewed at CyclingNews) of some other favorites: Damiano Cunego, 6th; Gilberto Simoni, 16th; Ivan Basso, 27th. It's early yet. For instance, Discovery's Tom Danielson is in 97th place, but he's only 58 second behind the leader.
Today's run featured a couple of small hills in the final third and a hairpin turn right near the end. No pileups.
Daily coverage is available on the Internet from CyclingNews and VeloNews. Also, OLNTV and Mediazone are providing live video feeds of the race over the Internet. The webcast package costs $5.95 and is available Monday through Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays, OLN is televising a tape delayed broadcast from 5-7 p.m. (ET).
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