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Colombian wins sixth stage of Giro d'Italia

Colombian rider Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez won the sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday and Marco Pinotti finished second to claim the overall lead. Laverde Jimenez, of the Ceramica Panaria team, completed the 177km mixed stage in 4 hours, 58 minutes, 23 seconds for his second career Giro stage victory. He won the 14th leg last year.

Pinotti, who rides for T-Mobile, had the same time and took the leader's pink jersey from fellow Italian Danilo Di Luca. Christophe Kern was third -- 1:30 behind the winner -- followed by Hubert Schwab, who was 1:34 off the lead.

Laverde Jimenez led a breakaway group of four other riders before attacking 24km from the end. Pinotti stayed with him but eased up in the final straight.

"I've never won a stage on the Giro so it was no small thing for me to do," Pinotti said. "But when I was sure of having the pink jersey, I thought it fair to let my breakaway partner win."

Pinotti holds a 3:30 lead over second-place Schwab in the overall standings.

Di Luca, who finished 31st on Friday, is third, 4:15 behind Pinotti, followed by Liquigas teammate Franco Pellizotti, who is 4:47 off the lead.

"It's what [Pinotti] wanted," said Liquigas rider Di Luca. "For us it was a relatively calm stage. I'm focusing on next week when the race starts getting serious."

Laverde Jimenez climbed to seventh while race favorite Damiano Cunego was ninth.
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