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Garzelli takes stage 16 of Giro with solo breakaway

The pack rides through the mountains during the 16th stage (189km, from Agordo to Lienz) of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday. PHOTO: AFP

Stefano Garzelli won the 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia in a solo breakaway on Tuesday, and Danilo Di Luca held onto the overall leader's pink jersey.

Already in an eight-man breakaway, Garzelli attacked on a downhill stretch and covered the 189km leg from Agordo, Italy, to Lienz in 5 hours, 34 minutes and 7 seconds.

Laurent Mangel, a French rider for the AG2R team, came in 1:01 behind for second place, beating Spanish rider Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez of the Tinkoff squad in a sprint.

The main group with Di Luca and the other leaders finished 8:10 behind.

Garzelli, who rides for the Acqua & Sapone team, began the day in 17th position overall, more than 20 minutes behind Di Luca. He moved up to 13th, with a gap of 11:32.

The first 12 positions overall remained unchanged.

Garzelli won the Giro in 2000 and now has two stage wins in this year's race. He also won a mountain stage on Saturday.

"I was out of the running after an off day at Tre Cime di Lavaredo and I didn't have anything to lose, so I risked it and it went well," said Garzelli, referring to Sunday's grueling stage.

Monday was a rest day.

"I slept all day yesterday and recuperated my strength," Garzelli said.

The group rode at a relatively slow pace for the first half of the stage, which was affected by rain and cold weather.

Benoit Joachim of the Astana team and Mangel launched the day's first attack after 123km and were eventually joined by six other riders, including Garzelli.

There are only two key stages remaining and one of them was yesterday's 142km leg from Lienz to Monte Zoncolan, a tortuous climb with grades as high as 22 percent.

The other potentially decisive stage is Saturday's 43km individual time trial from Bardolino to Verona.

The race ends on Sunday in Milan.
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