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De Clercq wins Giro 7th stage

Mercogliano - Belgium's Bart de Clercq, riding for Omega Pharma, sprang a surprise to win the Tour of Italy seventh stage, a 110km run from Maddaloni to Montevergine di Mercogliano, on Friday.

The 24-year-old de Clercq, claiming the most important win of his career, held off a chasing group led by Italian Michele Scarponi at the end of a taxing 17km climb to the 1260m summit finish.

Czech competitor Roman Kreziger took third on a day when temperatures scaled 28 Celcius.

Rabobank's Dutch rider Pieter Weening held on to the overall leader's pink jersey.

Spain's Alberto Contador finished in the same time as Weening.

De Clercq had taken command seven kilometres out to cross the line with a 40sec advantage for his first ever stage win in the Giro.

He dedicated his win to the memory of his compatriot Wouter Weylandt, who died after a horror crash on Monday's third stage.

Scarponi climbed two places into fifth in the overall standings, 14sec behind Weening, who holds a two second cushion over HTC duo Kanstantsin Siutsou and Marco Pinotti, with GRM's Christophe Le Mevel 5s away in fourth.

Sprinters are favoured in Saturday's eighth stage, a 217km run from Sapri to Tropea.

Organisers meanwhile confirmed Sunday's stage around Mount Etna would go ahead despite concerns over volcanic activity in the area with ash falling on local roads.

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