Belletti sprints to hometown win in Cesenatico

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Hometown hero Manuel Belletti (Colnago-CSF) won a stage devoted Marco Pantani  - another famous local -  on stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia. Belletti brought in the second successive Italian stage win and his first season victory, taking the sprint from a small group in Cesenatico. It was another victory for an escape group, as the remnants of a 17-man break fought for the win ahead of the peloton. Greg Henderson (Sky) and Iban Mayoz (Footon-Servetto) finished second and third, while Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) kept his overall lead.

Vladimir Karpets (Katusha) successfully attacked out of the favourite's group with 50 kilometres left and finished over two minutes ahead of his rivals. He jumped five places, passing Ivan Basso, Vincenzo Nibali ( both Liquigas) and Cadel Evans (Team BMC) to move into 14th place.

"This is the best day of my life. It's a dream come true. It's amazing to win so near home, I live just five kilometres from here. I grew up watching [Marco] Pantani and so to win here, in his hometown is very special," said Belletti, who hails from the region where he won on Friday.

The 24-year-old seemed unable to believe his victory. “It’s an incredible emotion to win your home stage. A lot of my fans and friends were out on the course and at the finish, so it’s a very emotional day. I waited for my teammates at the finish because I wanted to celebrated with them.”

The third-year pro had been worried at the end. “In the finale I thought I’d lost it because the other riders knew I was fastest and made me chase the attacks. When the HTC-Columbia rider (Lewis) was up the road I waited and waited, and then gave it absolutely everything in the final 350 metres.”

He paid tribute to the two men who had inspired him. “My dad got me into cycling. He could have been a pro and I grew up watching Pantani in television with him. Pantani was unique. The stage went five kilometres from my home, three kilometres from Pantani’s home and finished near the Pantani monument. It’s a moment in my life I’ll never forget.”

With the race heading into the high mountains Saturday for the first time, Saxo Bank's Porte realised he might be donning the pink jersey for the last time. “Tomorrow will be difficult for me. I’m happy to have had the pink jersey for three days and we’ll see what happens.”

Another successful break group

The stage saw several abandons, with the most notable being David Millar of Garmin-Transitions.A large escape group finally got away after 62 kilometres.

It was made up of 17 riders: Danilo Wyss (BMC), Rubens Bertogliati (Androni Giocattoli), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Matthieu Claude (Bbox),
Kalle Kriit (Cofidis), Manuel Belletti (Colnago), Iban Mayoz (Footon), Cameron Meyer (Garmin), Marco Marzano (Lampre), Sebastian Lang (Omega Pharma), Mauro Facci (Quick Step), Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank), Gregory Henderson (Sky), Craig Lewis (HTC), Juan Horrach, Serguei Klimov (both Katusha) and Paul Voss (Milram).

The gap grew and topped off at eight and a half minutes. On the first ranked climb of the day, the Perticara, Vladimir Karpets (Katusha)
attacked the Maglia Rosa group.

Liquigas led the chase but Karpets slowly built up a two minute lead. It was the second climb of the day which proved decisive. Karpets slowly lost ground on both the escape group and the favourite's group, as the escape group started to splinter. The peloton topped the climb up the Barbotto 6:15 behind the lead group.

On the descent the lead group disintegrated further with no one taking responsibility. Attack followed attack but no one was able to get away.

Kriit, Mayoz, Stamsnijder and Facci were finally able to establish a small lead, which quickly became larger. Meyer eventually bridged up to them. Horrach had dropped out of the lead group and caught up with his teammate Karpets, helping him to build up his GC lead over Basso and Nibali.

In the last three kilometres, the chasers out of the lead group caught the quintet up front, and from then on, riders attacked, fell back, groups formed and re-formed in a frantic finale. Lewis attacked in the final 1,500 metres, and pulled away. The American looked like he had a good chance for the win, but the chasers had other ideas.

Within the last 100 metres he was caught as Belletti gave his all and powered his way past the young American. Henderson gave chase, passing Lewis to finish second, with Mayoz third. Lewis eventually came in as eighth.

But while the stage winner had been decided, the race wasn't over yet with the GC contenders still to finish. Karpets and Horrach rode steadily on, and Karpets crossed the finish line 5:02 down. Liquigas stepped on the gas, with their fluorescent green jerseys in the front the field, flying along desperately.

The Russian had done his work well, as Nibali and Basso crossed the finish line over two minutes later. Karpets hopscotched over not only the two Liquigas riders but also Cadel Evans to move into 14th place.

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