Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) has won his sixth stage of this year's Giro. Petacchi won a bunch sprint to take Stage 12, a flat, 210-km run from Cesena to Treviso, in 4:48:12. Robbie McEwen (Lotto) finished second, and Alexandre Usov (Phonak) took third. Damiano Cunego (Saeco) remains the maglia rosa.

From the start, the racing was aggressive. At 14 km, Leonardo Scarselli (Colombia-Selle Italia), Croatian champion Radoslav Rogina (Tenax), and Geert Steegmans (Lotto) attacked. Saeco rode tempo, and the break's lead maxed out at 5:05.

Fassa Bortolo went to the front, and the break's advantage diminished. With 30 km remaining and the fugitives' lead down to 1:00, Steegmans attacked and forged 15-second lead on his companions. Fassa Bortolo, however, was having none of it. The bunch reeled in the leaders at 189 km.

Fassa Bortolo led the field to the finish. With five km left, Domenico Gualdi (Formaggio Pinzolo) attacked, but the bunch caught him easily. Brad McGee (La Francaise des Jeux.com) jumped, but he was caught. With 250 m remaining, Marco Zanotti (Vini Caldirola) crashed. One hundred m later, Petacchi leapt into the lead and dusted McEwen and Usov.

In the overall, Cunego leads teammate Gilberto Simoni by 0:10 and Franco Pellizotti (Alessio) by 0:28. Stage 13 will change matters. The rolling, 52-km time trial from Trieste to Altopiano Carsico should see riders such as Sergei Gontchar (De Nardi) and McGee succeed. How will the heads of state such as Simoni, Cunego, and Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet) fare? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!

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