De Clercq dedicates Giro stage win to Weylandt

Bart De Clercq hung on to win the seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday and immediately dedicated the victory to Belgian compatriot Wouter Weylandt.

"During the race I tried not to think about Wouter," De Clercq said. "But now that I've won it I want to dedicate this win to Wouter Weylandt and his family."

Weylandt died in the third stage of the race on Monday after a heavy crash.

Lotto-Omega rider De Clercq attacked on the long final climb to Montevergine di Mercogliano with 10 kilometres remaining and finished in a time of two hours, 54 minutes, 47 seconds. Italian Michele Scarponi led the pursuing group, but fell short on the 110-kilometre stage that started in Maddaloni.

"I left it a touch too late at the end," Scarponi said.

"Overall it was a good performance though. We didn't have a good rhythm in the peleton and I tried to increase it, but doing that is never easy."

Roman Kreuziger of the Czech Republic was third in the same time.

The Netherlands' Pieter Weening retains the leader's pink jersey for a third day after finishing among the chasing pack.

Italian champion Giovanni Visconti, Matteo Montaguti, Federico Canuti, Jerome Pineau and Lars Bak made the initial break and held it until De Clercq attacked halfway up the final climb.

Three-time Tour de France winner and race favourite Alberto Contador finished ninth in the pack and remains ninth in the standings, 30 seconds behind Weening.

"It was a really fast stage where the bunch wanted to catch the escapee," Contador said. "It was also a finish where we really watched each other because we knew that the final part was not that demanding."

The next stage on Saturday is the 217-kilometres from Sapri to Tropea. The 21-stage Giro finishes in Milan on May 29.