Pozzovivo triumphs at Tesero

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Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago - CSF Inox) won the final stage of the Giro del Trentino on Friday in an enthralling finale, which also saw Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) claim his first general classification win since his comeback from a two-year suspension. Pozzovivo's perfectly timed attack on the Alpe di Pampeago saw him finish clear of Riccardo Riccò (Flaminia Ceramica) and Sergio Pardilla (Carmiooro-NGC).

Fireworks flew as the men battling for the overall title hit the final climb of the mountainous race in northern Italy. Pozzovivo attacked with Riccò in the closing kilometres of the Pampeago, but it was the former who had the most strength left at the end of the 172.1 kilometre stage.

Riccò's second place finish wasn't enough to dislodge Vinokourov from the top of the overall standings. The Kazakhstani finished fourth on the stage, losing almost all of his overnight margin to his Italian rival. However, he held on to take the race title by a mere 0.14 seconds. It is Vinokourov's first general classification victory since his comeback from a two-year suspension for blood doping at the 2007 Tour de France, and his first overall title since the 2006 Vuelta a España.

16 set-off in search of success

Pozzovivo's successful attack had come after similar efforts from Jose Rujano (ISD-Neri) and Emanuele Sella (Carmiooro-NGC). The Venezuelan and Italian were the first members of the peloton to pass Simon Clarke (ISD-Neri), Andrea Noè (Ceramica) and Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox) - the remnants of the day's major escape group.

That selection quickly built up a 25 second advantage before a chase group of five riders were able to bridge across from the peloton. Alfredo Balloni (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team), Maxim Belkov (ISD-Neri), Leonardo Pinizzotto (Miche) and Jan Barta (Team NetApp) swelling the escape to 16 and and advantage of almost three minutes by kilometre 24.

With the race situation established, the leaders gradually extended their lead to a maximum of 5:20 as they passed over the Alto di Andalo after 71 kilometres. Borchit, Pirazzi and Kohler leading their companions over the summit of the Category 2 climb. With the leaders' advantage still hovering around five minutes as the stage passed the 110km mark, Astana came to the front and began the task of reeling in the escape.

With 25 kilometres-to-go the distance between the two groups had been cut to little more than three minutes, and as Liquigas-Doimo expressed their interest in the chase the gap fell even further - 1:13 with 10-to-go.

Mayhem on the mountain

Ahead, the breakaway began to fracture and Pirazzi launched his assault at the base of the final climb. The Italian using the 10.1 per cent gradient of the Pampeago to distance all bar Le Floch, Clarke and Noè. The sudden injection of pace at the front stretched the advantage of the now four leaders to 1:30, as Jose Rujano (ISD-Neri) launched his own attack from the peloton behind.

Le Floch was the first to drop of the pace before Pirazzi, too, began to show the effects of his earlier effort. Noè and Clarke assumed lead positions at the head of the race, while in the peloton Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) positioned themselves for the inevitable attacks. Rujano caught and passed Pirazzi, however, the Venezuelan's hopes of stage victory were dashed as the fuse was lit in the peloton behind.

With a blanket of just 25 seconds covering the race, Emanuele Sella (Carmiooro-NGC) attacked from the peloton, Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago - CSF Inox) and Riccardo Riccò (Flaminia Ceramica) marked the move as Vinokourov and Basso defended their positions just seconds behind. Riccò faded, leaving Pozzovivo to ride to the summit and his first win of the year. Behind, Sergio Pardilla (Carmiooro-NGC) latched on to Vinokourov's wheel, before passing him to seal third position.