Italian Daniele Bennati claimed his second Vuelta stage victory pipping compatriots Paolo Bettini and Alessandro Petacchi in a stage 17 bunch sprint.

The Lampre rider, who was neglected by the Italian team for next week's world championships in Stuttgart, also took victory in the opening stage of this year's Tour of Spain.

Bennati - also a double-stage winner at the Tour de France in July - overpowered Bettini when the world champion went off with 300 metres to go and easily held off the rainbow jersey in the final gasp.

Pettachi, whose Milram train led the peloton for the final five kilometres up until the finale, launched the sprint behind the wheel of German team-mate Erik Zabel but was quickly overtaken by Bettini and then Bennati.

Despite a 157-km long break-away - started 11-km into the stage - from Spanish duo Juan Olmo Menacho and Jorge Garcia Marin, a bunch sprint looked inevitable from the start of the flat 175-km trip from Ciudad Real to Talavera de la Reina.

The escapees - whose lead reached a maximum of just over five minutes - were reeled in six kilometres from home by a peloton that had been led by Milram, Lampre and Rabobank for most of the day.

"It might have looked easy to win today but it was a tough technical sprint," Bennati said.

"It's never easy to win in a major stage race like the Tour of Spain, even less so when you've just done the Tour de France like I have.

"I raced at 100 percent this July and didn't know whether my form would be good enough for the Vuelta. But I won the opening stage at Vigo and now I've come through to the final week of racing well and that's a huge plus."

Bennati added that he was disappointed not to have been selected for the world championship road race, which starts on September 26.

"I think I've shown I'm the fastest Italian in this race and for that reason I deserve to be in Germany," he said.

Rabobank's Denis Menchov easily retained his overall lead for a seventh straight day.

Results

1. Daniele Bennati (Italy / Lampre ) 3 hours 56 mins 58 secs

2. Paolo Bettini (Italy / Quick-Step) same time

3. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy / Milram) "

4. Andre Greipel (Germany / T-Mobile) "

5. Magnus Baeckstedt (Sweden / Liquigas) "

6. Allan Davis (Australia / Discovery Channel) "

7. Mark Renshaw (Australia / Credit Agricole) "

8. Erik Zabel (Germany / Milram) "

9. Alexandre Usov (Belarus / AG2R) "

10. Koldo Fernandez (Spain / Euskaltel) "

11. Carlos Da Cruz (France / Francaise des Jeux) "

12. Javier Mejias (Spain / Saunier Duval) "

13. Roy Sentjens (Belgium / Predictor-Lotto) "

14. Angel Gomez Gomez (Spain / Saunier Duval) "

15. Alan Perez (Spain / Euskaltel) "

16. Renaud Dion (France / AG2R) "

17. Adam Hansen (Australia / T-Mobile) "

18. Marcus Ljungqvist (Sweden / Team CSC) "

19. Andre Korff (Germany / T-Mobile) "

20. Dioni Galparsoro (Spain / Euskaltel) "

Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport