May 23, 2005 – Alessandro Petacchi made it three stage wins with an easy sprint victory on a 15th stage of the Giro that gave the pack a break from two days of hard climbing.

After only 12km of racing on the rainy 210km stage, Roy Sentjens (Rabobank) attacked, but never built a gap over three minutes. With the gap down to less than a minute with 50km remaining, a counterattack by Rafaele Illiano (Selle Italia) condemned Sentjens and gave the sprinters’ teams something to work for. They promptly complied, pulling him in with under 15km to go, which led to a straightforward sprint.

Moving onto the finishing circuit, the familiar sight of the Fassa train — no less than six riders! — leading out Petacchi dominated the front of the pack, while Paolo Bettini (Quickstep) and Eric Zabel (T-Mobile) fought for position behind him. To no avail: Petacchi won by an easy bike length ahead of Zabel.

Stage 15 results:
1. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 3.32.41 (41.47 km/h)
2. Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team
3. Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick.Step
4. Simone Cadamuro (Ita) Domina Vacanze
5. Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
6. Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
7. Henk Vogels (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
8. Robert Forster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
9. Isaac Galvez Lopez (Spa) Illes Balears
10. Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner

26. Michael Barry (Can) Discovery Channel-Pro Cycling Team

General classification after stage 15:
1. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel-Pro Cycling Team 70.54.09
2. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 0.25
3. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 1.48
4. Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.11
5. Jose’ Rujano Guillen (Ven) Selle Italia-Colombia 2.18
6. Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Credit Agricole 3.25
7. Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) Domina Vacanze 4.05
8. Emanuele Sella (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 5.50
9. Dario David Cioni (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 6.40
10. Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears 6.44

92. Michael Barry (Can) Discovery Channel-Pro Cycling Team 2.05.01