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Petacchi claims third Vuelta stage
LLORET DE MAR, Spain -- Italian Alessandro Petacchi re-asserted his dominance on the bunch sprint finishes at this year's Tour of Spain by claiming his third stage win in Lloret de Mar on Saturday. The Fassa Bortolo star suffered a puncture near the end of Friday's stage but made no mistake after the 189 kilometers from Tarragona, easily holding off Thor Hushovd of Norway. Home hero Roberto Heras comfortably held on to the leader's yellow jersey after the flat stage run off in blistering temperatures. But it was sprint ace Petacchi who once again stole the limelight as the 31-year-old claimed his 15th career victory in the race and 38th in a major tour. He was given a perfect lead out by his Fassa Bortolo team-mates and crossed the line with arms aloft ahead of Hushovd with Olympic champion Paolo Bettini of Italy in third. "I knew I could catch Hushovd because there was a head wind, so I let him attack first," said the Italian. "After the Pyrenees, I'll have more chances," he added. He shrugged aside questions about the world championships in Madrid on September 25, for which he is a red-hot favorite. "Can we stop talking about the world's please?" he asked. For now, I'm in the Tour of Spain and what matters is winning here." Sunday's 48 kilometer time trial is likely to be one of the key determinates of the eventual outcome of the Tour, with Heras likely to come under pressure from second place Denis Menchov of Russia who is 12 seconds adrift. 
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