Franco Pellizotti has moved up to third place overall after holding off a number of top riders and winning the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia.
The Italian triumphed on the short 83 kilomtere mountainous route from Chieti, in the Abruzzo region hit by a bigearthquake last month, with Stefano Garzelli 42 seconds behind.
Russia's Denis Menchov retained the leader's pink jersey after finishing fourth, although his overall advantage has been cut to 26 seconds after Danilo Di Luca came in third.
The 2007 winner Di Luca was especially keen to well in his home region, which is still recovering from an earthquake which killed almost 300 people.
Lance Armstrong,was in the small leading group for a short while before dropping back and finishing 10th.
The American's out of contention in the race, which finishes on Monday.
