Saunier Duval's Riccardo Ricco left Paolo Bettini and Davide Rebellin trailing in his wake as he sprinted to victory in stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia in Tivoli.

A breakaway group containing Adam Hansen (High Road), Daniele Nardello (Diquigiovanni-Androni), Fortunato Baliani (CSF), Mathieu Perget (Caisse d'Epargne) and Alessandro Spezialetti (LPR) went clear early on, though were kept in check by the Saunier Duval and Quickstep teams at the front of the peloton.

They put no more than 7 minutes on the field, and it was no surprise when they were reeled in after seeing their lead gradually whittled away over the final 50 kilometres.

Hansen, the Australian national time trial champion, attacked one final time 10 kilometres from home, though he too was swept up as the gradient gradually steepened towards the finish.

Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) stretched the field out with a sudden injection of speed inside the final two kilometres, before Danilo Di Luca came from a poor position to surge through on the outside 500 metres from home.

He ran out of steam toward the line though, while Ricco managed to come round Rebellin and hold off the challenge of Rebellin to take his second stage victory of this year's race.

Giovanni Visconti finished safely in the pack to keep the maglia rosa. Sunday's 9th stage takes the peloton along a largely flat 218 kilometres from Civitavecchia to San Vincenzo.

Michael FitzGerald / Eurosport