Italy's Paolo Bettini finally timed his sprint finish right to win the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia today.
Bettini, who has finished second twice and third in other stages in the race, beat Germany's Olaf Pollack and Robert Forster in Brescia.
Italian CSC team rider Ivan Basso retained the overall race lead after finishing in the same time as Bettini.
"This time things finally went right," Bettini told reporters.
"It's a relief to win a stage after all my earlier placings and after my nasty crash in the Tirreno-Adriatico race in early March.
"Things just didn't seem to be going my way. I tried to win bunch sprints, I tried to go in breakaways but I didn't win. I was getting a bit desperate but now I've finally done it."
Bettini strengthened his grip on the Giro points competition. He has a total of 115 points and appears certain to win the special purple jersey if he can get through the final mountain stages and make it to the race finish in Milan on Sunday.
The Giro heads into the Dolomite mountains on Tuesday for five consecutive stages that will decide the outcome of the Giro.
Basso has a commanding lead of three minutes 27 seconds over Spaniard Jose Gutierrez but knows his rivals will try and attack in the mountains.
Tuesday's 173-km 16th stage starts in Rovato and ends at the summit of Monte Bondone.
General Classification after Stage 15:
1 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 59hrs 44mins 07secs, 2 Jose E. Gutierrez Cataluna (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems at 3mins 27secs, 3 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team at 5.30, 4 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni at 7.35, 5 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir at 8.00, 6 Sandy Casar (Fra) Frantaise des Jeux at 8.01, 7 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas at 8.14, 8 Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team at 8.35, 9 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital at 8.58, 10 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas at 10.36, 11 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) Phonak Hearing Systems at 11.12, 12 Jose Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team at 12.02, 13 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Liquigas at 12.24, 14 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team at 12.45, 15 Jose Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears at 12.57
