Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) has won his fifth stage of this year's Giro. The Italian sprinter dusted Marco Zanotti (Vini Caldirola) and Andris Nauduzs (Domina Vacanze) to win Stage 10, a 146-km run from Porto Sant'Elpidio to Ascoli Piceno, in 3:24:17. Damiano Cunego (Saeco) remains the maglia rosa.

The racing began early. At 20 km, Bo Hamburger and Kyrylo Pospeyev (both from Acqua e Sapone), Raffaele Illiano (Colombia-Selle Italia), Paolo Lanfranchi (Panaria), Giuseppe Muraglia (Formaggio Pinzolo Piave), Daniele Righi (Lampre), Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner), and Oliver Zaugg (Saunier Duval) attacked. Lanfranchi and Muraglia were dropped, but the remaining seven escapees ran up a 3:03 lead by about 90 km.

Muraglia rejoined the break, but Fassa Bortolo was chasing. Tenax and Lotto joined the Italian squad at the front, and the bunch reeled in the break with 13 km remaining.

Fassa Bortolo took over the pacemaking and Indian filed the field. With 4.5-km left, Brad McGee (La Francaise des Jeux.com) took a flyer, but the bunch reeled him in 1.5 km later. Zanotti took Petacchi's wheel in the last km, but it did the Vini Caldirola rider no good. With 200 m left, Petacchi accelerated away from the field.

In the overall, Cunego leads teammate Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) by 0:10 and Franco Pellizotti (Alessio) by 0:28. Stage 11 will not change this state of affairs, but it should produce exciting racing. The hilly, 228-km ride from Porto Sant'Elpidio to Cesena will feature three tough climbs, the last of which is only 17 km from the finish. Look for an individual or a small group to slip away from the field.

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