Petacchi... finally!

For all of his accomplishments, Petacchi won the biggest race of his career, leaving behind Gerolsteiner's Danilo Hondo and Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd in the sprint that capped a nervous 294 kilometres in the saddle.

"It's the second most beautiful day in my life. The first one will be when I'll get married with Chiara in the church," an emotional Petacchi blurted after hugging his Fassa Bortolo team-mates.

Petacchi dethroned Mario Cipollini as Italy's undisputed sprint king two seasons ago when he won six stages on the Giro and four on the Tour de France.

But his withdrawal from the Tour on the first climb left him with the label of a one-dimensional rider, who compounded matters by launching his sprint way too early in the 2003 Paris-Tours, finishing second in a race he should have won.

This time, no such mistake.

After Paolo Bettini's clumsy stint as gregario left Quick Step team-mate Tom Boonen exposed too early at the outset of the sprint, Petacchi made his move 200 metres from the line, powering away with Germany's Hondo following at a distance as five-time winner Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) and the 37-year old Cipollini (Liquigas) faded badly.

The Primavera, which has finished in a sprint in eight of the past ten years, was punctuated by a 211-kilometre five-man breakaway by Jimmy Casper (Cofidis), Isasi Flores (Euskaltel), Daniele Righi (Lampre-Caffita), Mauro Santambrogio (Lpr) and Fillipo Simeoni (Naturino).

After a crash just before the Cipressa thinned out the pack as in the descent, Paolo Bettini decided to test the legs of the Petacchi's Fassa Bortolos and Oscar Freire's Rabobanks.

The 2003 winner and Crédit Agricole's Kazakh Andrey Kschechkin were caught on the Poggio after a short break, reeled in most notably by a relentless Kim Kirchen who did the hard work for Fassa in the climbs.

Kirchen continued to chase in the final five kilometres reeling in Alejandro Valverde, Mirko Celestino, Davide Rebellin, Franco Pellizzotti, and Axel Merckx as the sprinters jockeyed for position after nearly 294 kilometres of racing.

In previous years, the native of La spezia would have been unable to finish second overall in Tirreno-Adriatico.

But three pounds lighter and in top form, he never flinched on the Cipressa and the Poggio, taking the first major classic of the season, his eleventh win of 2005.

"Petacchi has been trying to go a bit faster on the climbs and that what he's managed to do this year," Fassa sporting director Giancarlo Ferretti told us during the race.

First to congratulate Petacchi with a pat on the back was world champion Oscar Freire who handed over his UCI Pro Tour leader's white jersey to the Italian who stands on 93 points to the Spaniard's 88 with Hondo third on 70 points going into the next Pro Tour event, the April 3 Tour of Flanders.