Petacchi takes a 3rd stage, Freire the overall at Tirreno-Adriatico

VeloNews | Petacchi takes another at T-A; Freire wins overall

Alessandro Petacchi took another stage at Tirreno-Adriatico Tuesday, his 3rd stage of the race and 12th victory of the season.

Rabobank's Oscar Freire didn't contest the sprint, and took the overall victory, after winning three consecutive stages himself. Freire becomes the 2nd leader of the UCI's new ProTour competition, bumping Paris-Nice winner Bobby Julich.

Mario Cipollini was 2nd on the day, and Gerolsteiner's Danilo Hondo, who has factored in almost every sprint in a sprinter's tour, was 3rd.

The overall top 10:

1. Oscar Freire (Rabobank), 32:37:19
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), at 9 secs
3. Fabrizio Guidi (Phonak), at 25 secs
4. Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner), at 25 secs
5. Laurent Brochard (Bouyges Telecom), at 33 secs
6. George Hincapie (Discovery Channel), at 36 secs
7. Angel Vicioso Arcos (Liberty Seguros), at 37 secs
8. Marcus Zberg (Gerolsteiner), at 40 secs
9. Patrice Halgand (Credit Agricole), at 40 secs
10. Andreas Klier (T-Mobile), at 42 secs

Attention now turns to Sunday, and La Primavera, Milan-San Remo.

Also:

CyclingNews | Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 7 photo gallery

Eurosport | Petacchi win in vain as Freire takes Tirreno

Eurosport notes that Robbie McEwen went down in the last 3 kms and finished at the back of the pack.