Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway, riding for Columbia, won the seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia from Innsbruck to Chiavenna, with LPR's Danilo Di Luca retaining the leader's pink jersey.

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Boasson Hagen emerged the winner from a five-man late escape over the final 20 kilometres, with the breakaway group launching their assault as the rain-hit 244-km stage came back over the border from Austria following the Passo Maloja climb.

The win, his first in Italy, was an early birthday present for the Norwegian, who turns 22 on Sunday.

South African Robert Hunter came in second ahead of Russian Pavel Brutt with Italians Davide Vigano and Alessandro Bertolini completing the top five on the day.

Bertolini had made a break going into the final few kilometres and established a one-minute lead on the nerve-wracking descent towards Chiavenna - but he faded badly and was reined in to allow Boasson Hagen to steal the victory.

Earlier in the day four riders had made an early move just outside Innsbruck, with Mauro Facci, Bartosz Huzarski, Serguei Klimov and Vladimir Isaichev racing nine minutes clear by the 24km mark.

But that group were overhauled on the final climb as rain made the conditions increasingly slippery.

Hagen, winner of last month's Gent-Wevelgem race, scored his first Giro stage success just 24 hours after he placed second behind Michele Scarponi in the sixth stage to Mayrhofen im Zillertal.

Saturday's eighth stage is a 209-km affair from Morbegno to Bergamo.

Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong's Astana team admitted on Friday they have been forced into desperate measures in a bid to publicise a never-ending financial dispute with their key sponsors.

Seven-time Tour de France winner Armstrong and his Astana teammates started the Tour of Italy's seventh stage with new shirts and the name of key sponsor, Astana, virtually blocked out.

Currently one of the most successful teams in the peloton, Astana face an uncertain future following reports their Kazakh sponsors have failed to pay team wages several times this year.

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