Alessandro Petacchi recorded his 20th Spanish Vuelta stage victory by taking the seventh leg on Friday, while Philippe Gilbert of Belgium maintained the overall lead for the fifth straight day.

The Italian Team Lampre-Farnese cyclist easily won the sprint finish of the 116.3-mile ride from Murcia to Orihuela. His winning time was 4 hours, 36 minutes, 12 seconds.

Mark Cavendish of Britain and Team HTC-Columbia was second and Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina and Team Saxo Bank was third in the same time.

The 36-year-old Petacchi first competed in the Spanish classic as far back as 1996, with his maiden victory coming four years later.

Gilbert finished 13th in the same time to keep the leader's red jersey and a 10-second advantage over Spanish duo Joaquin Rodriguez and Igor Anton. The Pharma-Lotto cyclist's time through seven legs is 27:12:38.

Frank Schleck of Luxembourg stayed 50 seconds behind in eighth. Defending champion Denis Menchov trailed Gilbert by 1:11.

The interestingly mountainous eighth stage Saturday is a 118-mile ride between Villena and Xorret de Cati.

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