De Paoli takes solo win

Escartin could not track down de Paoli

Italy's Daniele de Paoli won Wednesday's seventh leg of the Tour of Catalonia after riding the final 66 miles all by himself.

Spain's Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano retained the overall lead in the longest and most mountainous of the race's eight stages.

Paoli, a member of the Mercatone Uno team, covered the 106-miles between the Spanish town of Tull and a mountain pass in the principality of Andorra in four hours, 57 minutes and 53 seconds.

He finished with a lead of a minute and 20 seconds over his closest competitors, Spaniards Fernando Escartin of Team Coast and Joseba Beloki of ONCE Eroski.

Thursday's finale of Spain's oldest cycling race is a hilly eight mile time trial in Andorra between the towns of Sant Julia de Loira and La Rabassa.