MERCOGLIANO, May 13, 2011 – Belgium’s Bart De Clercq, riding
for Omega Pharma, sprang a surprise to win the Tour of Italy seventh stage, a
110km run from Maddaloni to Montevergine di Mercogliano, on Friday.

The 24-year-old De Clercq, claiming the most important win of his career,
held off a chasing group led by Italian Michele Scarponi at the end of a
taxing 17km climb to the 1260m summit finish.

Czech competitor Roman Kreziger took third on a day when temperatures
scaled 28 Celcius.

Rabobank’s Dutch rider Pieter Weening held on to the overall leader’s pink
jersey while Spain’s Alberto Contador finished in the same time as Weening.

De Clercq had taken command seven kilometres out to cross the line with a
40sec advantage for his first ever stage win in the Giro.

He commented: “When I attacked I wasn’t thinking about winning the stage.
The pace wasn’t that quick so I made use of that in a tactic devised by my
sporting director. I was really suffering in the last two or three kilometres,
especially the last one.”

He dedicated his win to the memory of his compatriot Wouter Weylandt, who
died after a horror crash on Monday’s third stage.

“I knew him well enough even if we weren’t close friends, we got on well
together. Only last Sunday we were chatting away in the peloton,” he said.

Scarponi climbed two places into fifth in the overall standings, 14sec
behind Weening, who holds a two second cushion over HTC duo Kanstantsin
Siutsou and Marco Pinotti, with GRM’s Christophe Le Mevel 5s away in fourth.

The Italian said: “I would haqve preferred to win, but we made the mistake
of allowing De Clercq to go too far in front, he was courageous, I thought he
would have weakened.”

Sprinters are favored in Saturday’s eighth stage, a 217km run from Sapri
to Tropea.

Organizers meanwhile confirmed Sunday’s stage around Mount Etna would go
ahead despite concerns over volcanic activity in the area with ash falling on
local roads.

Stage
1. Bart de Clercq (BEL) OLO 2hr 54min 47sec, 2. Michele Scarponi (ITA) LAM
at 0:00s, 3. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) AST s.t., 4. Stefano Garzelli (ITA) ASA
s.t., 5. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) LIQ s.t., 6. Joaquin Rodriguez (ESP) KAT s.t.,
7. Jose Rujano Guillen (VEN) AND s.t., 8. Dario Cataldo (ITA) QST s.t., 9.
Alberto Contador (ESP) SAX s.t., 10. Christophe Le Mevel (FRA) GRM s.t.
Selected
17. Denis Menchov (RUS) GEO s.t., 19. Pieter Weening (NED) RAB s.t., 35.
Carlos Sastre (ESP) GEO 0:21, 133. Richie Porte (AUS) SAX 15:09, 178. Mark
Cavendish (IOM) HTC 15:09

Overall standings
1. Pieter Weening (NED) RAB 23hr 09min 59sec, 2. Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR)
HTC at 0:02s, 3. Marco Pinotti (ITA) HTC 0:02, 4. Christophe Le Mevel (FRA)
GRM 0:05, 5. Michele Scarponi (ITA) LAM 0:14, 6. Pablo Lastras (ESP) MOV 0:22,
7. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) LIQ 0:24, 8. Steven Kruijswijk (NED) RAB 0:28, 9.
Alberto Contador (ESP) SAX 0:30, 10. Jose Serpa Perez (COL) AND 0:33
Selected
16. Denis Menchov (RUS) GEO 0:55, 33. Carlos Sastre (ESP) GEO 2:29, 51.
Danilo Di Luca (ITA) KAT 9:30, 73. Michael Barry (CAN) SKY 16:26, 76. Bart De
Clercq (BEL) OLO 17:21, 130. Richie Porte (AUS) SAX 34:56, 175. Mark
Cavendish (IOM) HTC 50:18, 194. Graeme Brown (AUS) RAB 1hr11:51

Article:AFP
Photo: Corvos