Di Luca leads Italian sweep

Verbrugghe has lost the overall leader's pink jersey

Click here for stage and overall results

Italian Danilo Di Luca of the Cantina Tollo team won a sprint finish to clinch victory in the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia.

He narrowly outsprinted Gabriele Colombo and defending champion Stefano Garzelli (Mapei) to take the 169 km (105-mile) stage Montevergine in an Italian sweep.

And compatriot Dario Frigo, who finished in seventh place in the stage, took over as overall leader from Belgian Rik Verbrugghe.

The Fassa Bortolo cyclist leads Spaniard Abraham Olano by 12 seconds with Gilberto Simoni a further second back in third.

Frigo recovered after having a bike replaced earlier in the stage.

Marco Pantani, regarded as Italy's best climber, unexpectedly slipped behind in the final mile and trailed the winner by 32 seconds.

Chain reaction

Verbrugghe, who has led the race from the outset, finished almost five minutes off the pace on the first mountain stage of this year's Giro.

Verbrugghe, who crashed on Tuesday, was again in the wars, tumbling to the tarmac early on in the stage and then having trouble with his replacement bike later on.

Mexican Giro debutant Julio Perez Cuapio made the first significant break of the day on the category-three climb some 12 miles from the finish.

He opened up a lead of 32 seconds over the peloton with only five kilometres remaining.

But then, with stage victory seemingly in his grasp, his bike chain snapped.

The Mexican cyclist threw his bike away in anger as he was passed and left behind by the pursuers.

With Verbrugghe in trouble, the main group was more concerned with battling for the pink jersey.

As well as the first significant climb of the race, the riders also had to contend with wet road conditions and an errant dog that joined in 15 miles from the finish.

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Giro d'Italia: fourth stage results

1. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo 4hr 34min 12sec
2. Gilberto Simoni (Ita)
3. Stefano Garzelli (Ita)
4. Giuliano Figueras (Ita)
5. Davide Rebellin (Ita) all same time
6. Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) at 3 sec
7. Dario Frigo (Ita) 3
8. Jose Azevedo (Por) 3
9. Ivan Gotti (Ita) 3
10. Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita) 3
11. Manuel Beltran (Spa) 3
12. Unai Osa (Spa) 3
13. Andrea Noe (Ita) 3
14. Aleksandr Shefer (Kaz) 3,
15. Wladimir Belli (Ita) 3
16. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) 3
17. Carlos Contreras (Col) 3
18. Abraham Olano (Spa) 9
19. Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) 9
20. Mauro Zanetti (Ita) 15

Selected:
28. Marco Pantani (Ita) 32

Overall standings:

1. D Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 17hr 21min 19sec
2. A Olano (Spa) at 12sec
3. G Simoni (Ita) 13
4. W Belli (Ita) 17
5. J Azevedo (Por) 19
6. G Di Grande (Ita) 25
7. J Hruska (Cze) 28
8. V Duma (Ukr) 33
9. O Camenzind (Swi) 35
10. G Colombo (Ita) 38
11. A Noe (Ita) 42
12. S Gontchar (Ukr) 47
13. D Di Luca (Ita) 48
14. S Garzelli (Ita) 57
15. I Gotti (Ita) 1min 02sec
16. G Figueras (Ita) 1:03
17. U Osa (Spa) 1:06
18. M Pantani (Ita) 1:09
19. M Velo (Ita) 1:15
20. P Lanfranchi (Ita) 1:25

Selected:
54. R Verbrugghe (Bel) 4:27
79. J Ullrich (Ger) 10:57