Italy's Alessandro Petacchi won the GP Beghelli in four hours, 20 minutes and 50 seconds, outsprinting Ukraine's Mikhavlo Khalilov and compatriot Giuseppe Palumbo.

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Petacchi was denied the chance to defend his Paris-Tours title, which also took place on Sunday, after event organiser Amaury Sport Organisation banned the Italian and his LPR Brakes team for failing to sign up to the blood passport programme.

Italy's Enrico Rossi escaped in the 25th kilometre of the 195.8km course that starts and finishes in Monteveglio, near Bologna, and dominated the early action before being caught by the LPR Brakes-led peloton at kilometre 132.

Diego Caccia was the next to make a move with Jurgen Van Goolen joining him. The duo remained clear until there were nine kilometres remaining, when Luca Paolini and Giovanni both tried their luck with attempted breaks.

But Petacchi proved too strong for the rest of the field and dominated the sprint in the final straight to take the title.