The cycling world might be beset by countless doping inquiries, but for a few moments on the island of Sardinia on this Mother's Day Sunday, everything seemed as it should be.
The Giro d'Italia peloton had chased down a five-man breakaway with about 3 miles to go in the 126-mile stage from Tempio Pausania to Bosa, and the sprinters were lining up.
Italian sprinter Allesandro Pettachi sits behind his leadout riders from Milram, whose speed stretch out the peloton. Taking advantage of the situation are Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) sitting on Pettachi's back wheel and Paolo Bettini (QuickStep) sitting in McEwen's slipstream.
After the final Milram leadout rider drops off, McEwen and Pettachi go head to head. A swift moving Bettini tries to close for the win but can't, and they finish (1.) McEwen, (2.) Bettini, and (3.) Petacchi.
VeloNews reports it was McEwen's 12th lifetime stage victory in the Giro; a win here would have marked 20 for Petacchi.
Overall, Enrico Gasparotto of Liquigas appears to have held onto the pink jersey
The Giro wraps up its visit to Sardinia on Monday with 112-mile race from Barumini to Cagliari.
Overall, Danilo Di Luca appears to have taken over the pink leader's jersey from teammate Enrico Gasparotto, who came across the finish line first in Saturday's team time trial.
See the full results at CyclingNews.
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