TROPEA, 9 May 2005 — Italy’s Paolo Bettini took the race leader’s pink jersey after winning the 208-km first stage of the Giro d’Italia from Reggio Calabria to Tropea yesterday.
The Olympic road race champion attacked on the steep climb one kilometer from the finish and stayed clear of the peloton to win alone and secure his first Giro stage victory.
Australia’s Robbie McEwen was second, three seconds behind, with Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi third at four seconds.
Thanks to the 20-second time bonus for winning the stage, Bettini also took the overall race lead from prologue time trial winner Brett Lancaster of Australia.
Bettini has won 44 races during his career and is a specialist in the one-day classic races that are often decided on short climbs.
He won the hilly Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in 2000 and 2002 and was overall World Cup winner for the last three years.
