In a carbon copy of two earlier stages in the Vuelta a Espana bicycle race, Alessandro Petacchi is led out by his Fassa Bortolo teammates and wins Stage 8.
The only difference in Saturday's finish at Lloret de Mar was that sprinter Thod Hushovd actually had the wheel of the last Fassa Bortolo leadout man and Petacchi had to pass him to win his third stage in the 3-week race across Spain. The Italian cyclist, nick-named Ale-Jet, now has 15 Vuelta stage wins in his career.
Norway's Hushovd finished second, followed by Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) in 3rd, Tom Boonen in 5th and Erik Zabel in 7th. Full Vuelta results are at CyclingNews.
The bicycle racers covered the mostly flat 117-mile route from Tarragona to Lloret de Mar in about 4 hours and 19 minutes, about 27 mph.
Roberto Heras, one of the favorites, remains in first place overall. Heras, a former US Postal rider, has three Vuelta championships to his credit. He's 12 seconds ahead of Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and 1-minute 7-seconds ahead of Carlos Sastre (T-Mobile).
US cyclist Tom Danielson, Discovery Channel, is still in 11th place, 2-minutes 19-seconds back.
Sunday's stage is a 30-mile individual time trial around Lloret de Mar. Menchov, sitting in second place, won the Vuelta's opening time trial last week.
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