Italy's Alessandro Petacchi won a sprint finish to take the 123-mile 11th stage of the Giro d'Italia in Pinerolo.
Andrea Noe was in a pile-up of about 20 riders on the finish line, but retained the race lead from Marzio Bruseghin.
Petacchi beat Gabriele Balducci and Robbie McEwen to the line for his third stage win of this year's race.
It was his 22nd Giro stage win of his career, equalling the mark of Italian legend Fausto Coppi , but still 20 short of Mario Cipollini's race record.
The race leaves Italy for France during Thursday's 101-mile mountainous route from Scalenghe to Briancon.
It includes the climb of the Colle Dell'Agnello, at 9,002 feet the highest point of this year's event.
Stage eleven results:
1. Alessandro Petacchi,Italy, Team Milram, 5 hours, 46 minutes, 59 seconds
2. Gabriele Balducci, Italy, Acqua & Sapone, same time
3. Robbie McEwen, Australia, Predictor-Lotto, same time
4. Thor Hushovd, Norway, Credit Agricole, same time
5. Danilo Napolitano, Italy, Lampre-Fondital, same time
6. Angelo Furlan, Italy, Credit Agricole, same time
7. Koldo Fernandez, Spain, Euskaltel-Euskadi, same time
8. Aliaksandr Usau, Belarus, AG2R Prevoyance, same time
9. Robert Forster, Germany, Gerolsteiner, same time
10. Enrico Gasparotto, Italy, Liquigas, same time
Overall standings:
1. Andrea Noe, Italy, Liquigas, 51 hours, 53 minutes, 8 seconds
2. Marzio Bruseghin, Italy, Lampre-Fondital, 1 minute, 8 seconds behind
3. David Arroyo Duran, Spain, Caisse D'Epargne, 1:15
4. Francisco J. Vila Errandonea, Spain, Lampre-Fondital, 1:38
5. Evgeni Petrov, Russia, Tinkoff Credit Systems, 1:48
6. Emanuele Sella, Italy, Ceramica Panaria, 2:04
7. Serguei Yakovlev, Kazakstan, Astana, 2:06
8. Danilo di Luca, Italy, Liquigas, 2:58
9. Marco Pinotti, Italy, T-Mobile, 3:11
10. Jose Luis Rubeira Vigil, Spain, Discovery Channel, 3:22