Giro d'italia Race stage 4 Result:
STAGE 4 RESULTS
1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita|LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini) 4:15:04
2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita|Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo)
3 Franco Pellizotti (Ita|Liquigas)
4 Mauricio Soler (Col|Barloworld)
5 Gilberto Simoni (Ita|Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli)
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA|Astana)
7 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe|Team Columbia - Highroad)
8 Ivan Basso (Ita|Liquigas)
9 Denis Menchov (Rus|Rabobank)
10 David Arroyo (Spa|Caisse d'Epargne)
Italy's Danilo Di Luca of LPR won Stage 4 of the Tour of Italy on Tuesday as Sweden's Thomas Lövkvist, riding for Columbia-Highroad, took the leader's pink jersey following the 162km stage from Padova to San Martino di Castrozza.
Di Luca, the 2007 champion, edged a furious final sprint to see off compatriots Stefano Garzelli and Franco Pellizotti as the event moved into the first mountainous section in the Dolomites, ending with a 13.7-kilometre climb.
Colombian Maurizio Soler of the Barloworld team looked poised for the stage win inside the last 1.5km until he was swept up by a closing bunch, eventually holding on for fourth place just ahead of former two-time champion Gilberto Simoni.
American Lance Armstrong had kept pace with the chasing pack throughout the day, and until the final kilometre, but once at the red flag the seven-time Tour de France champion ran out of juice eventually losing 15 seconds on the day.
Armstrong, however, is unlikely to be too concerned. Competing in his first ever Giro d'Italia with the stated intention of helping Astana team-mate Levi Leipheimer, Leipheimer lost no time on the stage, finishing sixth behind Italian Simoni.
Briton Ian Stannard joined an early six-man break which opened up a half-minute lead at the 10km mark after the race set off on flat roads bathed in warm sunshine. But the group soon fell back as the going got progressively tougher, culminating in a gruelling 70 kilometres of uphill grind. Only German Jens Voigt, of Saxo Bank, of the early escapees managed to stay the pace and even he was finally overhauled 2.5 kilometres out from the finish.
Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, who had gone into the day's racing clad in pink, began to struggle on the Croce d'Aune going into the final 50 kilometres leaving Lövkvist, 25, to hit the front of the overall standings two seconds ahead of 33-year-old Di Luca, who held on for his seventh career stage success.
Spaniard Francisco Perez meanwhile fell after 11 kilometres and was forced to quit the race with a right hand fracture.
Wednesday's fifth stage is a 125-km ride to Alpe de Siusi which includes a 24.9km climb reaching an average eight percent gradient over the final 10 kilometres.
With Lövkvist in the lead, Columbia-Highroad have several tactical options. Their big pink jersey hopeful is Australian Michael Rogers, who finished only six seconds down on Di Luca.
General classification after stage 4
1 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe|Team Columbia - Highroad) 13:05:28
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita|LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini) 0:00:02
3 Michael Rogers (Aus|Team Columbia - Highroad) 0:00:06
4 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr|Astana) 0:00:26
5 Levi Leipheimer (USA|Astana)
6 Lance Armstrong (USA|Astana) 0:00:28
7 Franco Pellizotti (Ita|Liquigas) 0:00:32
8 Damiano Cunego (Ita|Lampre - N.G.C.) 0:00:42
9 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita|Lampre - N.G.C.)
10 Carlos Sastre (Spa|Cervelo Test Team) 0:00:49
ref[BR]
Giro d'Italia Race Stage 4 Result
Giro d'Italia Race Stage 3 Result
Giro d'italia Race stage 3 Result:
STAGE 3 RESULTS
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita|LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini)
2 Tyler Farrar (USA|Garmin-Slipstream)
3 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita|Lampre-NGC)
4 Dario Cataldo (Ita|Quick Step)
5 Damiano Cunego (Ita|Lampre-NGC)
6 Philippe Gilbert (Bel|Silence-Lotto)
Italian Alessandro Petacchi of the LPR team won his second stage in a row to take the lead in the Tour of Italy on Monday after a 198km third stage slog from Grado to Valdobbiadene.
Petacchi made the most of a crash near the front of the peloton around 10km from home that split it in two and distanced many of his sprint rivals.
When it came to the final sprint he surged three bike lengths clear of the field and the late charging American Tyler Farrar could do nothing to catch him.
Italian Francesco Gavazzi finished third on the stage while seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong finished safely in the lead group to move up to fifth in the overall standings
Previous pink jersey holder Mark Cavendish of Britain was caught behind the crash which happened in a narrow street and held up about three quarters of the peloton.
He gave chase with a small group but about 4km from home on a hilly section he admitted defeat and slowed up. He came in with the main group 1 minute, 25 seconds back and now sits 32nd, almost a minute and a half off the pace.
Of the overall favourites only Russian Denis Menchov was hindered by the crash and he lost 24 seconds on the stage.
How the race unfolded
The day began with an early breakaway from five riders after just just 5km with Giuseppe Palumbo (Acqua e Sapone), Yuriy Krivstov (AG2R), Mauro Facci (Quick Step), Michael Ignatiev (Katusha) and Bjorn Schroder (Milram) distancing themselves from the pack.
Halfway through the race they had opened up a lead of six minutes over the peloton but the pack gradually ate into that over the next 60km.
The gap was little over a minute with 45km to ride and the category 3 Combai climb facing the riders and it was no surprise that the breakaway had been as good as swallowed up by the time they reached the top.
But with 14km remaining French darling Thomas Voekler took off with Quick Step team-mate David Malacarne in tow.
They were then joined by about 10 other riders all breaking off the front of the peloton with Levi Leipheimer, one of the Giro favourites, among them.
That appeared a shrewd move on his part the crash split the near the front of the peloton with just under 10km left stopped the main group in its tracks in a narrow street.
However, other than Menchov, all the top riders managed to position themselves in the front 50 and stay avoid any loss of time ahead of Tuesday's fourth stage, which enters the Dolomites .
That will be the first to finish a mountain finish following 162km from Padova to San Martino di Castrozza.
It will be the first opportunity for the Tour's big hitters to make some gains on each other, although these are unlikely to be too great.
General classification after stage 3
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita|LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini)
2 Tyler Farrar (USA|Garmin-Slipstream)
3 Michael Rogers (Aus|Columbia-Highroad)
4 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe|Columbia-Highroad)
5 Lance Armstrong (USA|Astana)
6 Danilo Di Luca (Ita|LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini)
7 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr|Astana)
8 Levi Leipheimer (USA|Astana)