Garzelli pips Simoni

Simoni made his burst for home four kilometres from home on the cobbled ascent to Upper Bergamo, and opened up a gap of around 16 seconds on the lead group, including the home favourites Paolo Savoldelli and Eddy Mazzoleni.

They left their challenge too late, though, and only Garzelli could catch Simoni, and came past the Saunier Duval man with just 20 metres remaining.

Overall leader Danilo di Luca finished 38 seconds back at the head of the chasing group, and preserves his pink jersey.

Gerolsteiner's Sven Krauss moved clear with the first attack of the day at the foot of the first-category Passo San Marco, and though he was unable to sustain his initial burst, a further group followed him up the road, including world champion Paolo Bettini, Iban Mayo, Ivan Parra and Michael Rasmussen.

They built up a lead that grew to three minutes on the ascent, and after seeing the chance to attack the pink jersey of Di Luca, the Astana duo of Savoldelli and Mazzoleni jumped clear in pursuit of the leaders.

Simoni, joined by Garzelli and Massimo Codol, was the next to break away, and joined Savoldelli's group on the descent.

The sextet then joined the lead group on the ascent of the second-category La Trinita, while the Liquigas and Lampre outfits struggled to reel them in, despite the former calling back Franco Pellizotti from the lead group.

CSC's Andy Schleck suffered a scare after crashing with Evgeni Petrov after the summit of La Trinita, though a titanic effort, together with some kamikaze-style descending, saw him bridge the gap.

Led by Savoldelli, the leaders managed to preserve their advantage over the chase group, in which Di Luca, left with only Charlie Wegelius and Franco Pellizotti from his own outfit, did all he could to urge the Lampre team to protect the interests of Damiano Cunego and Marzio Bruseghin.

They won back a small amount of time over the final few kilometres, though Di Luca's lead over Simoni, whom he regards as his main rival for overall victory, has now been cut to 3'32".