Petacchi stings sprint

A transition stage sandwiched between two behemoth mountain tests, Friday's Stage 12 of the 88th Giro d'Italia traced 178 km between Alleghe and Rovereto in the Italian Dolomites.

Despite an early category-one mountain summit -- the Passo di San Pellegrino, which reared its summit after just 26.8 km of racing -- Friday's race was a lollygag. The first hour of riding didn't surpass a near cardiac arrest 22 kmh and the average speed only hopped to a mediocre 37 kmh with 50 km left to ride.

Selle Italia rider Philippe Schnyder animated the bulk of Stage 12's action, earning TV time with a solo break that bubbled off the front with a marathon 120 km still to go on the stage.

Caught in the rodent role of a game of cat-and-mouse, Schnyder was never allowed a feasible leash by the peloton, controlled to perfection by the CSC squad of race leader Ivan Basso and the Fassa Bortolo train of eventual stage winner Alessandro Petacchi.

Schnyder -- who sat 176th in the overnight overall standings, an hour-and-a-half adrift of the pink jersey -- was gobbled back by the peloton 28 km from the finish, setting up the hustle-and-bustle of an inevitable mass-sprint finish.

The Fassa Bortolo train -- stumped, bumped and derailed in the Giro's first week of racing -- fired on all cylinders Friday.

Thundering the final straightaway, Petacchi bid adieu to his lead-out lieutenants with a little less than 250 metres left to fly. The Italian sprint stallion overhauled Panaria rider Paride Grillo with flabbergasting ease, revving away to an easy-breezy victory.

Grillo notched second on the stage followed by Isaac Galvez (Iles Balears). Gerolsteiner rider Robert Forster rounded out the top four.

The overall standing's remained unchanged, with CSC captain Basso lording an 18 sec advantage over Discovery Channel's Italian leader Paolo Savoldelli. Danilo Di Luca, also of Italy, occupies current third on the general classification, 1 min 4 sec adrift.

Saturday, the Giro again goes vertiginous, tackling six major mountain climbs on a 218 km route between Mezzocorona and Ortisei.