Muraglia claims solo win in Catanzaro

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Giuseppe Muraglia (CDC Cavaliere) soloed to victory on Monday in the third stage of the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria. The 30-year-old Italian was the only survivor of a 15-man break which went clear approximately half way through the stage from Crotone to Catanzaro.

Muraglia arrived at the uphill finish with a 40-second lead over runner-up Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre - Farnese Vini). Petacchi's teammate Daniele Pietropolli finished two seconds later to round out the stage's podium.

It was an emotional win for Muraglia, who returned to racing this year following a two-year suspension for doping. After winning the 2007 Clasica de Almeria, Muraglia tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and served a suspension from October 11, 2007 to October 10, 2009.

Regarding his time away from professional cycling, Muraglia told Gazzetta dello Sport, "It was hard, very hard. I got married and I had financial difficulties. I was a bartender in Pescara serving coffee for 12 hours a day.

"In February, 2009 I felt the desire to train again. I trained for four months, tried to get hired, but I found only closed doors. The only team to give me a second chance was CDC Cavaliere."

After 93 kilometres of racing in the 171.4km stage, the day's decisive break formed consisting of Michael Rasmussen (Miche), Silvère Ackermann (Vorarlberg - Corratec), Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox), Emanuele Sella (Carmiooro NGC), Emanuel Vona and Gianluca Mirenda (ISD - Neri), Alessandro Fantini (Acqua & Sapone), Francesco Ginanni and Fabrice Piemontesi (Androni Giocattoli), Tiziano Dall'antonia (Liquigas-Doimo), Salvatore Commesso (Meridiana - Kalev Chocolate Team), Grega Bole (Lampre - Farnese Vini), Fabrizio Lucciola and Donato Cannone (Ceramica Flaminia) and Giuseppe Muraglia (CDC Cavaliere).

Androni Giocattoli teammates Francesco Ginanni and Fabrice Piemontesi attacked the break and achieved a maximum advantage of 46 seconds over the other escapees, but were brought back with 20 kilometres remaining in the stage.

Once the Androni Giocattoli duo were absorbed by the rest of the break a new selection was made containing Commesso, Muraglia, Cannone, Bole and a resurgent Ginanni. After a period of attacks and counterattacks among the leading quintet, Muraglia broke free on his own with four kilometres remaining. Muraglia's four former companions at the head of the race and the remaining escapees were eventually swept up by the peloton, but there was some confusion in the field about the situation on the road.

"We had Bole [in the break], a good rider, and he deserved a chance," Pietropolli told Gazzetta dello Sport. "Instead, he came off. If we had known he was dropped we would have made the race harder and probably could have picked up Muraglia.

"In the end the situation was chaotic. Neither [Petacchi nor I] knew who remained in front."

While Muraglia powered to victory alone at the head of the race, Petacchi tried to set up his teammate Pietropolli for the field sprint thinking they were sprinting for the stage win. Petacchi, however, proved too strong for his teammate on the uphill finish and crossed the line in second place, followed two seconds later by Pietropolli.

Petacchi did not realize that another rider, Muraglia, had already won the stage until he heard the loudspeaker with 100 metres remaining to the finish line.

Overnight race leader Matteo Montaguti (De Rosa - Stac Plastic) finished seventh on the stage, 44 seconds behind Muraglia, and remained in the leader's jersey. Montaguti entered the stage with a slender four-second lead over Filippo Savini (Colnago - CSF Inox), but Savini finished nearly 16 minutes behind the race leader and dropped to 66th on general classification. Spain's Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Carmiooro NGC), who finished the stage in the same time as Montaguti, moved from third into second place overall, 25 seconds off the race lead. Pietropolli lies in third place, 35 seconds behind Montaguti.

The Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria concludes on Tuesday with a 165.7 km stage from Soverato to Reggio di Calabria.