Weening retains pink jersey in Giro d'Italia
Francisco Ventoso of Spain got the part of the race he'd been targeting when he edged Italian specialist Alessandro Petacchi in a sprint finish to win the sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday.
Ventoso led home a mass sprint to win the 216-kilometre stage from Orvieto to Fiuggi in five hours 15 minutes and 39 seconds.
"This is the stage that I identified before the race," Ventoso said. "It was very long and very hard, but I kept going to the end and got it.
"Danilo [Di Luca] went out with 150 to 100 metres to go and I just tried to stay with him. Petacchi then tried to pass me, but he couldn't keep up."
Petacchi appeared to be headed for his second stage win of this year's Giro when he went head to head with Ventoso to the line. However, he abruptly stopped pedalling just before the finish and freewheeled across the line.
Roberto Ferrari of Androni was third with the same time, while three-time Tour de France winner and race favorite Alberto Contador finished 39th in the same time.
Pieter Weening of the Netherlands retained the pink jersey, two seconds clear of Kanstantsin Sivtsov of Belarus and Marco Pinotto of Italy after more than 20 hours 15 minutes. Contador was ninth, only 30 seconds behind.
"We had a good day," Weening said of his Rabobank team. "Everyone was strong and, tomorrow, we will try to do the same and, hopefully, I will get another day in pink."
Jussi Veikkanen, Kristof Vandewalle, Yaroslav Popovych, Sacha Modolo and Frederik Veuchelen made the first break of the day and, even after dropping Modolo, they still led by one minute 30 seconds at the 15-kilometre mark.
Vandewalle went alone with nine kilometers to go but was passed by the group less than two kilometres from the finish.
Friday's stage is 110 kilometres from Maddaloni to Montevergine di Mercogliano, featuring a final climb of 1,260 metres. The Giro finishes in Milan on May 29.
Race organizers also announced that injured Dutch cyclist Tom Slagter would return to Netherlands after he is released from the hospital.
The Rabobank rider crashed during Wednesday's fifth stage while grabbing for a water bottle, sustaining a concussion, a fractured eye socket and facial injuries.