Orihuela - Alessandro Petacchi recorded his 20th Spanish Vuelta stage victory by taking the seventh leg on Friday, while Philippe Gilbert of Belgium maintained the overall lead for the fifth straight day.

The Italian Lampre-Farnese cyclist easily won the sprint finish of the 187.1-kilometer (116.3-mile) ride from Murcia to Orihuela. His winning time was 4 hours, 36 minutes, 12 seconds.

British rider Mark Cavendish was second and Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina was third in the same time.

The 36-year-old Petacchi first competed in the Spanish classic in 1996, with his maiden victory coming four years later.

Gilbert finished 13th in the same time to keep the leader's red jersey and a 10-second advantage over Spanish duo Joaquin Rodriguez and Igor Anton. The Pharma-Lotto cyclist's time through seven legs is 27:12:38.

Frank Schleck of Luxembourg stayed 50 seconds behind while defending champion Denis Menchov trailed Gilbert by 1:11.

Gilbert will have his work cut out in Saturday's mountainous eighth stage, a 190-kilometer (118-mile) ride between Villena and Xorret de Cati that is expected to go some way to revealing the true contenders.