Italian sprint specialist Alessandro Petacchi scored his second stage win at the Giro d'Italia bike race on Saturday, beating a crowd that included Norway's Thor Hushovd and Italy's Paolo Bettini.
That marks 21 Giro wins for the bicyclist known as “Ale-Jet” since his first in 2003 and emphasizes the fact that he's definitely recovered from a kneecap injury he suffered on Stage 3 of last year's Giro.
The contest for the leader's pink jersey remained static, as there weren't any changes among the leaders; Mario Pinotti of T-Mobile retained the lead, which he captured on Friday.
The peloton raced over a generally flat course on Saturday's 157-mile stage between Spoleto and Scarperia. An early breakaway was caught by the sprinters' teams that took over the pace later in the day.
As it is trained to do, the Milram team strung out the peloton as it entered the finish at a motorcycle race course. A couple of cyclists, Salvatore Commesso and Fabian Cancellara attempted attacks, but Milram wore them down to put Petacchi over for the finish.
The peloton tackles the Apennine mountains after its start in Barberino Di Mugello, but the second half of the run is fairly flat into Fiorano Modenese. There will surely be a breakaway, but expect the sprinters' teams to gather them in before the end.
The mountain stages begin soon. Time is running out for Bettini and Hushovd; it's been close, but no cigar, for both of them a few times already. Maybe Sunday is the day.
See VeloNews and CyclingNews for more info and full results.
Meanwhile, Discovery Channel's George Hincapie tells VeloNews that he's enjoying his first Giro.
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