Cesenatico (Italy), May 21: Italy’s Manuel Belletti, of the CSF team, won Friday’s 13th stage of the Tour of Italy with Australian Richie Porte of Saxo Bank holding on to the leader’s pink jersey.
Belletti, who was born in Cesena near the stage’s finishing line, took the honours after leading home a lengthy breakaway. New Zealand’s Greg Henderson took second place ahead of Spaniard Iban Mayoz and Germany’s Paul Voss.
Belletti’s victory was the second for an Italian in this year’s race, following Filippo Pozzato’s success in the 12th stage on Thursday. A group of 17 riders, none of whom presented any kind of threat to the overall leaders, broke away after 62 kilometres of the 223km stage.
They stretched their lead over the chasing pack to almost 10 minutes by the 136km mark and arrived in Cesenatico, the former home of late 1998 Giro winner Marco Pantani, more than seven minutes ahead of the peloton.
Belletti outpaced the supposedly quicker Henderson in the ensuing sprint. — AFP