Pavel Tonkov rolled back the years to win the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia in the Dolomite mountains on Thursday.
The 35-year-old Russian, winner of the 1996 Giro, dominated on the 153km run from Brunico to Fondo Sarnonico, attacking alone on the Passo della Mendola to win by two minutes and 15 seconds from Italy's Alessandro Bertolini.
The leading contenders for the overall classification finished together, 2:49 behind Tonkov, to leave Damiano Cunego of Italy still out in front.
Tonkov's victory was marred by an offensive gesture as he crossed the finish line -- costing him a fine of 200 Swiss francs. The usually quiet Russian explained that it was a message to those who had written him off.
"I made the gesture because everybody thinks I'm old and can't win, but it's not true," he said.
"Not many people had faith in me after I had some serious back problems last year, but I've proved them wrong with this win and I'm really happy, but only for myself."
Winner
Tonkov, who rides for Vini Caldirola, has won seven stages at the Giro during his career. As well as his overall victory in 1996 he also finished second in 1997 and 1998.
"My best years are behind me and perhaps I didn't do as well as I could but there is not a lot I can do about it," he said.
"I think I can be an asset to cycling because I can teach younger riders how to do well in the long hard races like the Giro. But not many teams give the riders the respect they deserve.
"I have to thank the Vini Caldirola team because they gave me a chance and I'm glad to have paid them back with this win."
Cunego retained his one minute 14 second lead over Ukraine's Serhiy Honchar, but his day did not go to plan.
A mechanical problem in a key moment of the race forced him to change bikes and he had to chase hard to catch back up to the main field.
"I had a problem at the very moment someone attacked," said the Saeco rider. "I had to stop and change bikes and then had to chase, so I was a bit angry.
"There was never any real danger to my overall lead but it was an important lesson for the two decisive mountain stages. It's easy to lose time if something goes wrong during the race but you have to stay cool, not panic and think things through before reacting."
Yesterday's 118km eighteenth stage from Cles to Bormio 2000 is relatively short but includes three major climbs: The Passo del Tonale, the 2,618m Passo di Gavia -- the highest climb of the 2004 Giro -- and the 9.8km climb to the finish at Bormio.
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