Team Movistar's spaniard Francisco Ventoso got the part of the race he'd been targeting when he edged Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi of Team Lampre in a sprint finish to win stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia earlier this afternoon.

Ventoso led home a mass sprint to win the 216-kilometer (134-mile) stage from Orvieto to Fiuggi in 05 hours, 15 minutes, 39 seconds.

"This is the stage that I identified before the race," Ventoso said after the stage and added "It was very long and very hard, but I kept going to the end and got it.

"Danilo (Di Luca) went out with 150 to 100 meters to go and I just tried to stay with him. Petacchi then tried to pass me, but he couldn't keep up."

Petacchi appeared to be headed for his second stage win of this year's Giro d'Italia when he went head to head with Ventoso to the line. However, he abruptly stopped pedaling just before the finish and freewheeled across the line.

Roberto Ferrari of the Androni team was third with the same time, while three-time Tour de France champion and overall Giro favorite Alberto Contador of Team Saxo Bank-SunGard) finished 39th in the same time.

Pieter Weening of the Netherlands and Team Rabobank retained the pink jersey, two seconds clear of Kanstantsin Sivtsov of Belarus and Marco Pinotto of Italy after more than 20 hours, 15 minutes. Contador finished ninth, only 30 seconds behind.

"We had a good day," Weening said of his Rabobank team and continued his praise "Everyone was strong and tomorrow we will try to do the same and hopefully I will get another day in pink."

Jussi Veikkanen, Kristof Vandewalle, Yaroslav Popovych, Sacha Modolo and Frederik Veuchelen made the first break of the day, and even after dropping Modolo they still led by 01 minute, 30 seconds at the 15-kilometer mark.

Vandewalle went alone with 9 kilometers to go but was passed by the group less than 2 kilometers from the finish.

Tomorrow's stage is 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Maddaloni to Montevergine di Mercogliano, featuring a final climb of 1,260 meters (4,133 feet). The Giro d'Italia 2011 finishes in Milano on May 29.

Watch daily 2011 Giro d'Italia video highlights in the video section right here on Roadcycling.com.

You'll find complete results and more photos from stage 6 here.