May 21, 2004 – Racing began once again on Friday, May 21, in Pantani’s hometown of Cesena and finished in Pinarello’s , (to name just one) hometown of Trevisio, a bonafide cycling Mecca. Early into the 210K stage, three men broke away with Saeco taking control of the peleton for Cunego and Simoni who sit 1-2.

As the day wore on the Fasso Bortola team began to organize the chase and bring the trio back within its grasp. Steadily increasing their speed, the Fasso train protected their ace sprinter Petacchi with one kilometer to go and as teammate Velo peeled off, the Petacchi jet unleashed a 71.2 kph sprint to take the stage over fastman Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) and Alex Usov of Phonak.

Dedicating his win to teammate Guido Trenti (winner of 99 Tour Cyclist Trans-Canada) who has been injured by a motorist in April, Petacchi is now batting 500, with six wins out of twelve stages. Cycling legends DeVlaemick, Saronni and Maertens all share the record of seven stage wins at the Giro, a record Petacchi should be able to equal and surpass.

With 152 riders left the race heads toward a 52 km ITT tomorrow, which should shake, up the tightly grouped overall classification.

General Classification

1. Damiano Cunego (ITA) Saeco

2. Gilberto Simoni (ITA) Saeco, 0:16

3. Franco Pellizotti (ITA) Alessio-Bianchi, 0:34

4. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, 0:40

5. Giuliano Figueras (ITA) Ceramiche Panaria-Margres, 0:58

6. Stefano Garzelli (ITA) Vini Caldirola-Nobili Rubinetterie, 1:15