Mazzoleni, Di Luca and Schleck |
Petacchi wins his fourth sprint |
The Liquigas team worked well throughout the race |
Danilo Di Luca rode into Milano the winner of the 2007 Giro d’Italia. The Italian rider has been dominant in this year’s race, riding in the Maglia Rosa jersey for much of the race.
He finished, after 92hrs 59mins of racing, 1.55min ahead of Andy Schleck (CSC) and 2.55 ahead of Eddy Mazzoleni (Astana). From the opening time trial Di Luca was clearly the man to beat, with his Liquigas team providing a sterling job keeping him safe through the race.
The mass sprint into Milano was won with supreme ease by an on-fire Alessandro Petacchi (Milram), throwing down the gauntlet to his rivals in the rapidly approaching Tour de France.
“Today my team again worked strong for me. Especially Brett Lancaster as the last man in the train”, Petacchi said. “I worked so hard in the last weeks. In 2003 I won six stages, in 2004 nine, in 2005 four and again five this year. Now seven and eight wins are missing”.
But all eyes were on Di Luca, the man who has been dominant throughout the race. His team won the opening time trial, Di Luca climbed strongly and defended his lead when others attacked.
