Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) won the third stage of the Giro di Sardegna in a sprint finish after a 206km rolling stage between Nouro and Oristano. Enrico Rossi (Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce), who is the brother of Riccardo Ricco’s partner Vania Rossi, and Jacopo Guarnieri (Liquigas-Doimo) finished in second and third positions behind the super-sprinter from La Spezia. Rossi's sister recently tested non-negative for CERA.
Lampre-Farnese Vini director Fabrizio Bontempi said the team wanted to see how Petacchi was going after recovering from his stomach problems. "Today's stage was a good test: Petacchi performed in the best way, even if he's not at one-hundred percent of his potential and is still suffering a bit from the health trouble he had."
There is no arguing with a victory and Petacchi credits his team for keeping him focused at the end of the stage. "I was not feeling a top condition, but my teammates and sport director told me to try to go for the sprint and, thanks to the great support by the team, I won," he explained.
The main breakaway of the day happened 60km into the 206km stage. Giairo Ermeti (De Rosa-Stac Plastic), David Gutierrez (Footon-Servetto), Cayetano Sarmiento (Acqua e Sapone), Evgeny Petrov (Katusha) escaped along with Michael Rasmussen (Miche), who is in his first season in Europe since his suspension for lying about his whereabouts before the 2007 Tour de France.
Four of the riders were caught by the peloton 65km later, but Ermeti and Gutierrez managed to stay away until there was just 6km to go. After hunting down the break, Petacchi’s Lampre-Farnese Vini team launched him to the line where he took a simple victory.
Overnight leader Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) finished in the peloton and so maintains his overall advantage. Tomorrow’s stage will consist of a rolling rolling course between Carbonia and Iglesias; none of the terrain should worry Kreuziger but the presence of a first category climb with 40km to go will probably deny the sprinters a chance for victory.
Result stage 3
1. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
2. Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce
3. Jacopo Guarnerini (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
4. Sacha Modolo (Irl) Colnago-CSF Inox
5. Ivan Rovny (USA) RadioShack
6. Matteo Montaguti (Ita) De Rosa-Stac Plastic
7. Michele Merlo (Esp) Footon-Servetto
8. Serguei Klimov (Rus) Katusha
9. Fabio Felline (Esp) Footon-Servetto
10. Nicola D’Andrea (Cro) Meridiana Kamen
Standings after stage 3
1. Roman Kreuziger (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
2. Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack @ 4s
3. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bbox Bouyges Telecom @ 6s