Italian cyclist Mariano Piccoli, riding for the Lampre team, has won the 13th stage of the Tour of Spain, a 143.3km ride around Santander. Piccoli came home ahead of Frenchman Patrice Halgand and Spaniard Francisco Cabello, while another Spaniard, Angel Casero (Festina), retained the overall leader's gold jersey.
Early in the race Santiago Blanco of Spain, who started the day nearly five minutes behind Casero in the overall standings, made an early break, but Casero's Festina teammates did a good job of protecting their leader by refusing to let Blanco get too far ahead.
A group of ten escapees, including Piccoli, then opened up a gap of three minutes on the peloton during the Alisas climb, before the eventual winner managed to break away on a solo run to finish 14 seconds ahead of the leading group.
Reuters
Filed by Shane Murray
