It's been more than a year since Italian sprint specialist Alessandro Petacchi won a stage at the Giro d'Italia, but he did it on Monday without a leadout from his Milram teammates.
Since he injured his kneecap in Stage 3 last year, you'd have to look back to 2005 for a Giro stage win by the “Ale-Jet,” who still holds the most Giro wins among active cyclists.
The race leader's jersey went back to Enrico Gasparatto of Liquigas; he and team captain Danilo Di Luca have been sharing the jersey since Gasparatto crossed the finish line first — with four teammates in tow — in the opening team time trial on Saturday. As they both have the same time, Di Luca finished back in the peloton while Gasparatto was up in the final sprint.
The Giro returns to the mainland from Sardenia for a rest day on Tuesday before resuming the three-week bike race on Wednesday.
Monday's 112-mile stage race from Barumini to Cagliari on the island of Sardenia was sparked by an early attack by five cyclists, later whittled down to a two-man breakaway that survived to within about 3 miles of the finish line.
Milram couldn't put together one of its classic leadouts for captain Petacchi, but the Italian jumped on the wheel of challenger Paolo Bettini then sprinted out on his own for the win.
Petacchi won 6 stages of the Giro in 2003, 9 in 2004 and 4 in 2005. Even with his current dominance, he has a long way to go to match the record of 42 Giro wins held by Mario Cipollini, who won his last Giro stage the same year that Petacchi won his first.
Wednesday's 95-mile Stage 4 ends with a mountaintop finish at Monevergine di Mercogliano. The race begins in the coastal town of Salerno.
Results at CyclingNews and VeloNews.
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