Danilo Di Luca prevailed on the 10-mile climb into Montevergine Di Mercogliano at the end of a rain-slicked, 95-mile Stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday.
The Italian was in a group of 20 that battled up the curvy mountain road, and he attacked Riccardo Ricco, Damiano Cunego and other noted climbers in the last 600 feet for the win.
His Liquigas teammate, Enrico Gasparotto, lost the pink jersey to Di Luca after going down in one of the many crashes that marked the rainy stage that started in Salerno.
CyclingNews says Di Luca knows this climb well, as he won it for the first time in 2001.
A three-man breakaway got away early in the stage, and gained as much as 6 minutes as cyclists slowed the pace of the peloton to avoid crashes on the slippery roads. The breakaway group quickly lost its margin on the Montevergine Di Mercogliano climb.
Ceramica's climber, Julio Pérez, attacked on the hill but was brought back by Di Luca's Liquigas team. Near the finish, Di Luca launched himself past Cunego and Ricco, who couldn't match his speed.
Gasparotto and Di Luca have been trading the pink leader's jersey since the end of Stage 1, a time trial won by the Liquigas team.
The peloton heads north from the suburbs of Naples to the suburbs of Rome on Stage 5 on Thursday. The 107-mile stage from Teano to Frascati is essentially flat, except for a climb near the end.
See full results at CyclingNews or VeloNews.
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