Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara won the week-long Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race which ended in San Benedetto del Tronto.

The CSC rider finished 28th on the seventh and last stage won by Italy's Francesco Chicchi but ended the week-long race 16 seconds ahead of Italian Enrico Gasparotto (Barloworld). Swede Thomas Lovkvist (High Road) was third at 40 seconds.

The final 176-km stage around the holiday resort of San Benedetto del Tronto was affected by rain and Cancellara stayed out of trouble by riding in the front group.

The victory was his 41st in eight years as a professional.

He also won the Paris-Roubaix in 2006 and the world time trial title in 2006 and 2007.

"I'm going to celebrate this victory and my 27th birthday with my team mates because they did a lot of work for me during the race," Cancellara said.

"Before the start I didn't consider myself a contender but I was able to win because of the hard work and training I've done in the last few months.

"I won the time trial stage on Sunday and then hung on to the lead on the climbs."

Cancellara's victory will make him one of the favourites for Saturday's Milan-San Remo race but he refused to discuss his tactics for the first prestigious 'classic' of the season.

"We've got on idea of our tactics at CSC but we're not going to tell anyone," he said. "We've got a strong team and Frank Schleck could also win so we've got several cards we could play.

"Everybody will be watching me but I don't feel under pressure. I'm going to stay in Milan in the next few days and stay focused on the race."

STAGE SIX

Spain's Oscar Freire won the 196-km sixth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico with a perfectly timed sprint on the uphill finish to Castelfidardo.

The Rabobank rider beat Filippo Pozzato and Danilo Di Luca of Italy to take his second win in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico race. He also won stage one to Civitavecchia last Wednesday.

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara of the CSC team finished in the same time as Freire and so retained the overall race lead before Tuesday's seventh and final stage.

Italy's Enrico Gasparotto is second at 16 seconds back, with Sweden's Thomas Lovkvist third at 40 seconds down.

Cancellara and Gasparotto went head to head on the climb to the finish but were caught with 300 hundred metres to go. Di Luca lead out the dash to the finish line but Freire powered past him in the final 25 metres.

"It was a great finish for me and so I had to try and win it," Freire said.

His two stage victories make Freire a favourite for Saturday's Milan-San Remo race, the first big 'classic' of the cycling season. Freire won the Italian race in 2004 and 2007 but predicted a difficult race this year.

"The result shows my form is very good but I expect a lot of attacks at Milan-San Remo and this win has nothing to do with what will happen on Saturday," he said.

"Of course I want to win it and I won't take any risks in tomorrow's final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico because I've already won two stage but winning here does not guarantee success at Milan-San Remo."

The start of the sixth stage was delayed for five minutes as riders protested against a surprise drugs test recently imposed on Belgium's Kevin Van Impe as he was preparing for his son's funeral.

A similar protest was held before the final stage of Paris-Nice on Sunday.

"We all want to support our colleague and send a clear message to those in charge," Filippo Pozzato said, reading a statement read before the start of the stage.

"We'll say yes a thousand times to a determined and responsible fight against doping, but today and even in an even stronger manner in the future, we say no a thousand times against the violation of our rights, the rights of every human being."

The Tirreno-Adriatico ends on Tuesday with a 176km stage around San Benedetto del Tronto.

STAGE FIVE

World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara won the fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico to take the overall lead.

The Swiss CSC team rider set a time of 33 minutes and 41 seconds for the 26-km individual time trial between Macerata and Recanati.

U.S. national time trial champion David Zabriskie finished in second place 22 seconds slower than Cancellara and Sweden's Thomas Lovkvist was third.

Cancellara now leads Italy's Enrico Gasparotto by 16 seconds in the overall standings, with Lovkvist third on 40 seconds.

Previous leader Niklas Axelsson of Sweden lost more than two minutes to Cancellara and slipped out of the top five overall.

Cancellara is now favourite to win the week-long race that ends in San Benedetto del Tronto on Tuesday.

"I'm happy. It's what I wanted," Cancellara said after pulling on the race leader's blue jersey.

"Hopefully I can hang on to the lead and give myself a nice birthday present on Tuesday and give something back to my team mates and my family for their help."

Cancellara set the fastest time on the flat first half of the time trial but then suffered on the climb up to the finish in Recanati.

"I'm not a climber and lost some time but I've shown I've been competitive on the other hilly stages of the race and that allowed me to take the race lead," he said.

"I was careful not to put myself under too much pressure before the race but I really wanted to win and so gave it everything in the time trial.

"Now there are only two stages left and so I've got a great chance of winning overall. Monday's stage is hilly but I've got a great team who will help me, while Tuesday's stage should end in a sprint.

Monday's 196 km sixth stage is from Civitanova Marche to Castelfidardo.

STAGE FOUR

Italy's Alessandro Petacchi won the fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race from Porto Recanati to Civitanova Marche.

The Team Milram rider beat Spain's Oscar Freire and Italy's Filippo Pozzato in a sprint finish.

Sweden's Niklas Axelsson of the Diquigiovanni team finished in the same time as Petacchi to retain the overall race lead.

Italy's Enrico Gasparotto was second 10 seconds behind and stage three winner Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain was third at 18 seconds.

Petacchi was beaten by Freire in Wednesday's opening stage in Civitavecchia but confirmed he is on form for next Saturday's prestigious Milan-San Remo race.

"This win has shown I'm on track for Milan-San Remo," Petacchi told reporters. "The stage was only half the distance of Milan-San Remo but it was hilly all day. I felt good and I'm feeling a lot better than I did last year when I was still recovering from a fractured kneecap."

"I just hope everything goes right next Saturday and hope I can have a perfect day like I did in 2005 when I won Milan-San Remo."

Italy's Alessandro Ballan attacked on the last climb of the stage, eight kms from the finish, and dragged a group of 20 riders clear. But Petacchi's Milram team quickly closed the gap before setting up Petacchi for the sprint.

"It was a good attack but we were confident that we'd catch them," Petacchi said.

"The stage finished in the same place as two years ago but this time there was a tail wind. I started my sprint early but followed my instinct and got it right. Freire came up close to me at the line but I knew I'd won."

Sunday's fifth stage is a 26-km individual time trial from Macerata to Recanati. World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara is favourite to win the stage but Axelsson hopes to keep the race leader's blue jersey for another day.

"I've only got a 10 or 20 percent chance of keeping the race lead but I'm going to give it everything," the Swedish rider said.

The seven-day race race ends on Tuesday.

STAGE THREE

Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez of the Caisse d'Epargne team won the 195 km third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race from Gubbio to Montelupone.

The Spanish national road race champion attacked on the steep climb to the finish and crossed the line 12 seconds ahead of Italy's Danilo Di Luca and Sweden's Niklas Axelsson.

Thanks to his third place, Axelsson leads the week-long stage race. Italy's Enrico Gasparotto is second at 10 seconds behind, with Rodriguez third at 18 seconds.

Many of the riders struggled on the 20 percent gradient up to Montelupone, with some forced to walk their bikes to the summit.

"The climb to the finish was incredibly steep but I attacked at the right time and got a gap," Rodriguez said.

"It's a lot like the Mur de Huy climb up to the finish of the Fleche-Wallonne race in Belgium but it's even steeper and longer.

"Spanish riders don't usually like the one-day classics but I do because my father was a professional rider and so I grew up watching riders like the best Italian classics rider Michele Bartoli and Paolo Bettini on television."

Axelsson will wear the race leader's blue jersey during Saturday's 166 km fourth stage from Porto Recanati to Civitanova Marche but is not optimistic about his chance for overall victory.

"I rode well on the climb but I know I'd have to do a great time trial on Sunday to have any chance of winning," he said.

"There are a lot of great time trialists in this race, including world champion Fabian Cancellara. He's only 54 seconds behind me in the standings and so is the real favourite."

Axelsson retired in 2001 after failing a test for the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO) but made a comeback in 2004. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2007 but has made a complete recovery.

"I've made mistakes in the past and it was hard last year when I was undergoing chemotherapy but I'm glad I came back both times because cycling is my life," he said.

STAGE TWO

Italy's Raffaele Illiano prevailed in a sprint finish to take the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.

The Diquigiovanni rider beat compatriot Enrico Gasparotto and team mate Niklas Axelsson of Norway after being part of a six-rider attack that formed 20km from the finish of the 203km stage.

Gasparotto is the new race leader with Axelsson second at two seconds back and Germany's Linus Gerdemann six seconds down.

Illiano was in tears after taking the most important victory of his seven-year professional career.

"I'm incredibly happy. I've been waiting for this for a long time. I've only ever won minor races but now I think I've earned my place in the professional peloton," he said.

"I crashed during the first stage and I've got five stitches in my right knee but I felt good and so went with the late attack."

Team Barloworld rider Gasparotto was disappointed not to win the sprint but added the race leader's blue jersey to the pink jersey he won in the prologue of the Giro d'Italia last year and the red, white and green Italian national champion's jersey he won in 2005.

"I was suffering with cramp in the final kilometres of the stage and that definitely affected my chances in the sprint. However I'm happy to have the leader's jersey and will try and keep it for as long as possible," Gasparotto said.

Friday's 195km third stage is from Gubbio to Montelupone.

STAGE ONE

Spain's Oscar Freire of the Rabobank team won the opening stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico.

The three-times world road race champion beat Italy's Alessandro Petacchi and Spain's Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil in a sprint finish on the first day of the week-long race.

Australia's Robbie McEwen won the same stage in last year's race with a late attack in the chicane 300 metres from the finish.

McEwen was first through the two corners again this year but did not manage to open up a gap and Freire accelerated past him to win.

"I felt good during the stage. I knew it was going to be difficult, especially at the end, but I had a good position going into the last corner," said the 32-year-old Freire, who won the race in 2005.

"Last year McEwen surprised us and got a gap but this time we were ready for him and the sprint went perfectly for me."

"I went a bit early because McEwen was still out front but I knew I had to take a risk if I wanted to win. Petacchi was close but I just had enough speed to get to the line first."

The 161-km stage was characterised by a long breakaway by Russia's Mikhail Ignatiev and Ukraine's Yuriy Krivtsov.

They opened up a seven-minute lead but were caught four kms from the finish after a determined chase by the Milram, Diquigiovanni and High Road teams.

Freire, who has now won eight stages of the Tirreno-Adriatico during his 11-year career, will wear the race leader's blue jersey during Thursday's 203-km second stage from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.

Reuters