Alessandro Petacchi beat Daniele Bennati to the line by half a bike's length for his second consecutive stage victory at the Vuelta a Espana.

Stage 12 from Algemesí to Hellín was always destined to be a day for the sprinters with no climbs in the route and so it proved as Italy's Petacchi took the 19th stage success of his Vuelta career.

The 33-year-old was too strong for his compatriot from Lampre in the closing stages of the 171km journey with Alexandre Usov a surprise third.

Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Philippe Gilbert (FDJ), Yuriy Krivtsov (AG2R), Sebastien Minard (Cofidis) and Jose Ruiz Sanchez (Andalucia-Cajasur) attacked early but Petacchi's Milram team ensured their advantage was never greater than three and a half minutes and they were absorbed by the peloton in the closing stages.

Denis Menchov finished safely in the peloton to maintain his two minute and one second lead in the general classification.

"I'm not here to win more stages than another rider, just to win, full stop." Petacchi said.

"To be honest, I was already happy with just taking one victory this year. Two is something unexpected and very pleasant.

"That makes today's win one for the entire team, because without them I wouldn't have taken this victory."

Results:

1. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy / Milram ) 3hrs 41min 01"

2. Daniele Bennati (Italy / Lampre ) same time

3. Alexandre Usov (Belarus / AG2R )

4. Davide Vigano (Italy / Quick-Step )

5. Aurelien Clerc (Switzerland / Bouygues Telecom )

6. Magnus Baeckstedt (Sweden / Liquigas )

7. Samuel Sanchez (Spain / Euskaltel )

8. Stefan Schumacher (Germany / Gerolsteiner )

9. Allan Davis (Australia / Discovery Channel )

10. Andre Greipel (Germany / T-Mobile )

11. Koldo Fernandez (Spain / Euskaltel )

12. Karsten Kroon (Netherlands / Team CSC )

13. Javier Mejias (Spain / Saunier Duval )

14. Erki Puetsep (Estonia / Bouygues Telecom )

15. Daniel Moreno (Spain / Relax )

16. Rene Mandri (Estonia / AG2R )

17. Leonardo Duque (Colombia / Cofidis )

18. Erik Zabel (Germany / Milram )

19. Roy Sentjens (Belgium / Predictor - Lotto )

20. Andre Korff (Germany / T-Mobile )

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