Bettini won by a very comfortable margin

Photo: Graham Watson

Finishing on the podium Saturday night and just two seconds behind Australian maglia rosa Brett Lancaster, the smart money was on Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) to earn a stage win and take over the leader's jersey at the end of Sunday's 208 kilometer stage from from Reggio Calabria to Tropea.

But a short, but steep, final rise to the finish seemed to nearly derail the Silver Train of Fassa Bortolo, opening the door for a well-timed final kilometer attack from QuickStep's Paolo Bettini.

Timing his jump to perfection, and reminiscent of the attack that led to his Olympic road race victory in Athens, "Il Grillo" (the cricket) jumped past the Fassas and all others at Sunday's seaside finish on the gulf of St. Eufemia. It caught the peloton by surprise, and by the time anyone could muster a chase, the 31 year-old from La California, Toscana, was already thinking about his victory salute.

Finishing three seconds in front of Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) and Petacchi in what was very much a fragmented peloton, the stage win - and the nuova maglia rosa - was Bettini's, the classifica generale remaining in that order. Michael Barry and Antonio Cruz (Discovery Channel) were the best of the North Americans, 23 seconds in arrears, with teammate leader Tom Danielson a further 11 seconds behind.

With Sunday's 208-kilometer stage 180 times longer than Saturday's glittering prime-time prologue, but with nothing too heavy in the way of physical obstacles, it was also destined to be another one for the fast-men of the 88th Giro d'Italia. The question was more: 'Which one?'

So, with just the one Intergiro sprint (at 92.2km) and one mountain (GPM) prime, located 50 kilometers from the finish, it was only natural to see an early break of four go clear early in the day.

Photo: Graham Watson

Making up the quartet were: Leonardo Scarselli (Selle Italia-Colombia), Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner), Stefano Zanini (QuickStep) and Thorwald Veneberg (Rabobank). On the overall classification, Gerolsteiner's Krauss was the best-placed of the four, just two seconds off 25 year-old maglia rosa Brett Lancaster (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare), and assumed the virtual lead less than an hour into the race, also taking six bonus seconds for placing first at the Intergiro.

With the sun shining at its 24 degree maximum and a gentle westerly of 10 mph, the not-so-famous four reached a maximum lead of 9 minutes 40 seconds after 72 kilometers. Shortly afterwards, however, Fassa Bortolo decided to restore some order in favor of their star sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, who finished third last night and was a favorite for the maglia rosa by the day's end.

Veneberg tries to go it alone

Photo: Graham Watson

As the 'Silver Train' slowly but surely chipped away on the front, the break's advantage gradually eroded to around 2 minutes 30 with 50 clicks to go, but Rabobank's Veneberg wasn't ready to give up the fight, attacking solo before the start of the GPM (km 161.8). It was a brave but bullish effort, and to be perfectly honest, destined to fail the moment he started it, the tall Dutchman snapped up coming into the village of Porto Salvo with 16 kilometers remaining.STAGE 1 FULL RESULTS

Coming into Tropea, five Fassas were at the front with Australian champ McEwen slotted in nicely behind, but it appeared only one man bothered to reconnoiter the highly technical finish...

Just under the kilometer kite, the road turned sharply upwards and it appeared to catch the Fassas off guard. As the road hit 12 percent, Bettini simply popped out of the bunch, took one look over his shoulder, and rocketed all the way to victory numero uno at the 2005 Giro.

Stage 1 Results
1. Paolo Bettini (I), Quickstep, 5:09:32
2. Robbie Mcewen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 0:03
3. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Fassa Bortolo, 0:04
4. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux, 0:04
5. Manuele Mori (I), Saunier Duval, 0:04
6. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile, 0:04
7. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 0:04
8. Mirko Celestino (I), Domina Vacanze, 0:04
9. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 0:04
10. Ardila Cano Mauricio Alberto (Col), Davitamon-Lotto, 0:04
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GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Paolo Bettini (I), Quickstep, 5:10:35
2. Robbie Mcewen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 0:12
3. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Fassa Bortolo, 0:14
4. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, 0:22
5. Marco Velo (I), Fassa Bortolo, 0:25
6. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 0:25
7. Filippo Pozzato (I), Quickstep, 0:25
8. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux, 0:25
9. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 0:25
10. Juan Manuel Garate (Sp), Saunier Duval, 0:26
STAGE 1 FULL RESULTS

Looking ahead
Stage 2: Catanzaro Lido to Santa Maria del Cedro, 177 km
Fassa Bortolo directtore sportivo Giancarlo Ferretti won't be a happy man after Sunday's finish, so expect to see the Silver Train make amends on a more predictable sprint in Santa Maria del Cedro.

STAGE 1 FULL RESULTSTo see how today's stage developed, simply CLICK HERE.