Team Colnago's Manuel Belletti won Stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia earlier today; Richie Porte maintains overall Giro lead.

Local boy Manuel Belletti burst into tears after giving Italy their second Giro d'Italia stage win in two days on Friday with a superb sprint finish in his home region.

Belletti's struggling Colnago team suffered a blow before stage 13 when their leader Domenico Pozzovivo was among the riders to pull out but were celebrating a shock win at the end.

Australia's unheralded Saxo Bank rider Richie Porte, the surprise package of this topsy-turvy Giro, kept the overall lead.

The Cesena/Cesenatico area in north eastern Italy is synonymous with Italian cycling given it was the home of 1998 Giro winner Marco Pantani, whose life was later destroyed by drugs.

Belletti, never a winner on a Grand Tour stage, made sure the area's strong cycling heritage continued after timing his break to perfection in the home straight when a handful of other riders had looked better placed.

The lead changed hands several times during an archetypal stage with many top riders saving energy ahead of the final week.

The 223 kilometer route along Italy's east coast from Porto Recanati came before two tough mountain tests this weekend with Saturday's stage a 205km climb from Ferrara to Asolo.

Before the stage Team BMC Racing's Australian World Champion Cadel Evans apologised for almost coming to blows with Italy's Daniele Righi during an argument before the climax of Thursday's stage.

"Sometimes you lack a bit of clear-thinking. The important thing is to have the intelligence to understand your own errors," Team BMC's Evans told Roadcycling.com.

Filippo Pozzato gave Italy their first non-team stage win in this year's race on Thursday.

The three-week event finishes in Verona on May 30.

Stay tuned to us here at Roadcycling.com for full 2010 Giro d'Italia coverage including daily video highlights from the race in our Roadcycling.com video section and visit www.universalsports.com/cycling for live video from the Giro d'Italia.

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