Spaniard Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez of the Kelme team won the eighth stage of the Giro d'Italia from Capannori to Orvieto in Tuscany on Monday. German Jens Heppner of the Telekom team retained the overall race lead and still is three minutes 33 seconds ahead of Mapei's Stefano Garzelli, who will discover on Tuesday whether he is to be disqualified from the Giro after failing a dope test.
Jimenez broke away from the other riders 700 metres from the line to win the 237kms stage - the longest of the race - four seconds ahead of Italians Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo) and Gilberto Simoni (Saeco). Italians Fabrizio Guidi (Coast), Massimo Strazzer (Phonak) and Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) went clear of the field after 67kms. Guidi was the last of the trio to be caught, just three kilometres from the finish.
The ninth stage of the Giro goes from Tivoli near Rome to Caserta near Naples over a distance of 201kms.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
