Freire's cheeky dash

"Sometimes you have to try everything to win. I saw a chance, took the shortest route and it helped me win," Freire told reporters after finding himself among the remains of a long-eight man excursion.

"I knew a breakaway would get away because it was a long stage. I made sure I was in the right move and worked hard to make sure we stay clear."

"I knew the finish was a little bit complicated with different corners and junctions and so was ready for anything. I suppose I was a little bit lucky but I deserved this victory."

The early break, led by Lampre's Salvatore Commesso had built up an 8-minute lead after the last climb with a little less than 100km to go.

But it was all downhill from there, literally.

A furious Commesso found himself doing most of the legwork as the rest of escape appeared content to slipstream.

With 12km to go, the lead down to a mere 45 seconds, and the suburbs of Ascona in sight, the Italian had had enough and went it alone.

T-Mobile's Michael Rogers jumped in his wheel for some more drafting, but when Discovery Channel's Matthew White and Freire joined the party, the focus turned to the superior sprinter Freire.

As the lead melted to 24 seconds with four kilometres to go, and conscious that the others were not going to help him, the Spaniard made his mountain biking move and powered around the other side of the roundabout.

Freire never looked back on the partially-wet pavement as he time trialed it home, leaving Commesso's Lampre team-mate Daniele Bennati to win the peloton sprint ahead of veteran Milram rider Erik Zabel.

"These days there are a lot of roundabouts and kerbs in the roads. I always look ahead when I'm racing and always choose the shortest line."

The stage victory was Freire's fourth of the 2006 and the 45th of his nine-year professional career.

"I live in Switzerland, in the town of Mendrisio not far from here, and so I really wanted to win," he said.

Overall leader Koldo Gil (Saunier Duval) lost four seconds, but stayed 30 seconds clear of Jorg Jaksche (Astana Würth) and 50 seconds in front of T-Mobile leader Jan Ullrich ahead of Saturday's big mountain stage and Sunday's finale, a 30km individual time trial.

After winning the last time trial on the Giro, Ullrich is a likely candidate to take the yellow jersey on the final day. But with the Tour de France in sight, it will be just as telling - arguably even more so - to see how he performs in the last mountain stage and quieten critics, who again at the start of the race last Saturday made an issue of the 1997 Tour winner's weight.

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