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Aggressive Vestöl & Sciandri
Big Linda McCartney Foods rider, Norweigan Björnar Vestöl, attacked in the closing kilometres of the stage today catching two earlier long-term breakaway riders Bart Voskamp (Team Polti) and Diego Ferrari (Amica Chips).
The stage finished with three 6km circuits around Brescia and Vestol cruised across the finish line for the first time leading Voskamp and Ferrari who were desperately following after he had increased the pace of their escape.
In the rain swept streets the riders were greeted with a steep cobbled climb with dangerous corners, unsurprisingly several crashes occurred in the peloton behind. Unfortunately for the McCartney big-man he wasn't going to record his second win of the season as the trio were caught shortly after the dangerous climb.
The next major move was made by Fabiano Fontanelli (Mercatone Uno) with Dimitri Konyshev (Fassa Bortolo) chasing after him. More riders got across to them, including McCartney's British star Max Sciandri. The moved became doomed when more and more riders bridged the gap and no one was able to get organised.
In the final bunch sprint Angel Vicioso from Kelme was first across the line but was later disqualified for irregular sprinting. Biagio Conte (Saeco-Valli & Valli) was awarded the stage, his team leader Mario Cippollini, who earlier retired from the race, would have been proud of his work.
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