Alessandro Petacchi, known as the Ale-Jet in the peloton, won his first stage in the Giro d' Italia Monday.
With a late lead out by the Fassa Bortolo team with about 1 mile to go, Petacchi battled earlier Giro winners Paolo Bettini and Robbie McEwen as well as accomplished sprinters Aurelien Clerc and Erik Zabel, according to CyclingNews.
Petacchi won nine stages of the Giro on his home soil last year and a similar effort was expected this year. Bettini and McEwen had taken him in earlier sprints, though, and Petacchi was abandoned by his team in another when they plowed en masse into a barricade before the finish.
Danilo Di Luca, riding for Liquigas-Bianchi, still holds the overall leader's pink jersey after the 86-mile stage from Firenze (Florence) to Ravenna. He's just 9 seconds ahead of CSC's Ivan Basso and 35 seconds ahead of Paolo Savoldelli, the leader of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team.
If Savoldelli is to repeat his 2002 Giro d' Italia victory, he'll have to do it without teammate Tom Danielson, who quit Monday about 6 miles into the stage. He told CyclingNews that his knee has been bothering him since he climbed Brasstown Bald on his way to victory in the Tour of Georgia three weeks ago.
Tuesday is an off day; the Giro resumes Wednesday with a 130-mile stage between Ravenna and Rossano Veneto. Live reports are available on CyclingNews and VeloNews and the OLNTV website provides a webcast of the live video feed.
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