Huzarski sprints to win ahead of breakaway companions

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Poland's Bartosz Huzarski (ISD - Neri) outsprinted Swede Michael Stevenson (Sparebanken Vest - Ridley) and Italian Manuele Caddeo (Zheroquadro Radenska) at the end of a stage shortened due to severe weather conditions. The three escapees had a 30-second margin over chasers led to the line by Roberto Ferrari (De Rosa - Stac Plastic).

Italian Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli) held onto his lead in the general classification..

The action started at kilometer 16 when Huzarski and Stevenson broke free with Caddeo chasing up to the pair after about three kilometres.

As the cold rain helped the trio inch out their lead to a maximum of 6:21 at km 72, the officials decided that the conditions were foul enough to warrant shortening the race by eliminating one of the circuits, bringing the 156.8 km stage to 135.7 km.

This helped motivate the teams to chase, and the lead dropped quickly to under five minutes, down to 2:35 by the start of the final lap. With Scarponi's lead threatened, the gap came down from 1:28 with just 4km to go, to under one minute with 2km remaining.

But the three riders pulled out just enough strength to hold off the peloton with 30 seconds to spare, with Huzarski taking his second win of the season after a stage of the Coppi & Bartali race last month.

Roberto Ferrari (De Rosa Stac - Plastic) led the peloton across the line, while Scarponi finished safely in the bunch to hold onto the overall lead.

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