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Alessandro Petacchi won the final stage of the Tour of Sardinia as Daniele Bennati completed overall victory.

Liquigas's Bennati followed Al-Jet home at the end of the 149km stage in Cagliari to win the five-stage race, all of which finished in bunch sprint finishes, by 12 seconds from Oscar Gatto.

Andriy Grivko (ISD), Francesco Masciarelli (Acqua & Sapone), Michele Scarponi (Serr. PVC Diquigiovanni), Giovanni Visconti (ISD), Massimo Giunti and Przemyslaw Niemiec (Miche - Silver Cross) launched an early attack in an attempt to break the hegemony and built up a lead of over three minutes but were caught with nearly 50km to go.

That set up 35-year-old Petacchi of the LPR Brakes team for his second victory of the season following his win in the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi.

STAGE FOUR

Daniele Bennati took the lead in the Giro di Sardegna with stage four victory.

The Liquigas rider edged out Lampre's Mirco Lorenzetto, winner of the first two stages, in a sprint finish at the end of a 147.5km stage from Tortoli to Cagliari.

Sergiy Grechyn (Amore & Vita-McDonald's), Mauro Richeze (Csf Group-Navigare) and Alessandro Maserati (Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce) escaped the peloton and built up a lead of nearly three minutes but they were reeled in by the teams of the big sprinters.

Bennati holds a six second lead over Oscar Gatto on GC going into Saturday's final stage in Cagliari.

STAGE THREE

Oscar Gatto won stage three at the Giro di Sardegna, winning a 173.2km stage from Oristano to Tortoli.

The 24-year-old recorded his first professional victory as he outsprinted world champion Alessandro Ballan and former Italian champion Giovanni Visconti.

Leonardo Giordani (Ceramica) and the Austrian Silvere Ackermann launched an early escape and built up a six minute lead but were caught with 56km remaining.

Mirco Lorenzetto retains the race lead after winning the opening two stages.

STAGE TWO

Mirco Lorenzetto triumphed again on day two of the Tour de Sardaigne, sprinting away from Daniele Bennati to win the 164-kilometre stage.

The Lampre-NGC rider has now won back-to-back stages, having conquered the opening sprint in Olbia on Tuesday.

"I was able to pull off a wonderful sprint again today," said Lorenzetto.

"I benefited from perfect team work during the whole race up until the final kilometre, where I was placed in position on the wheel of Alessandro Petacchi and Daniele Bettini."

The Tour continues on Thursday with a 173.2-kilometre stage to Tortoli.

STAGE ONE

Mirco Lorenzetto and Enrico Gasparotto completed a Team Lampre-NGC one-two on the opening sprint stage of the Tour of Sardaigne in Olbia.

Lorenzetto won the 184.2km stage at the head of a bunch sprint involving 40 riders, with 13 taking the winning time of 4.30.42.

Alessandro Petacchi of LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini was third.

After 16km Mauro Finetto (CSF Group-Navigare), Philipp Mamos (Amore & Vita-McDonald's) and Maxim Belkov (ISD) broke free but were eventually caught by the chasing pack, with Lampre dominating the final 24km.

Their world champion Alessandro Ballan finished eighth as part of the team effort.

"It was a victory that went according to plan," said Lampre sporting director Fabrizio Bontempi. "We forced the pace on the San Pantaleo climb with Paolo Tiralongo with the intent of weakening the pure sprinters.

"Matteo Bono set a tempo to prevent the re-entry of the dropped riders. Tiralongo and (Volodymyr) Zagorodny kept it going through from 2km out."

On Wednesday the second stage of five runs for 164km to Santu Lussurgiu.

Eurosport