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Astana's Gasparotto wins Tirreno-Adriatico fifth stage
Italy's Enrico Gasparotto riding for the Astana team took the win on the fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico while race leader Michele Scarponi held on to his race lead.
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Fellow Italian Stefano Garzelli was second on the 216-km route from Chieti to Colmurano to move second overall and reduce defending champion Scarponi's lead to 10 seconds.
After taking part in a breakaway, Gasparotto held on when three other riders caught up with him on the short but steep finishing climb and won a four-way sprint.
The Italian completed the 216-kilometer route from Chieti to Colmurano in 5 hours, 32 minutes, 22 seconds.
Kazakhstan's Maxim Iglinskiy also riding for Astana finished third on the stage and lies third on the general classification.
World champion Cadel Evans is well positioned in fourth overall after finishing fourth on the stage, 18 seconds behind Androni Giocattoli's Scarponi.
"We took the option to go for the GC because Monday is still a big day when everything can change." said BMC Racing Team Director Sportif John Lelangue in explaining the team's tactics.
Another Australian, team HTC-Columbia's Michael Rogers also moved up the standings and is now sitting sixth overall, 29 seconds behind Scarponi.
Organisers were forced to change the route for the stage, shortening it by 20 kilometres because of snow in the Apennine mountains.
The race, which started on Italy's western Tyrrhenian coast, concludes on the Adriatic east coast at San Benedetto del Tronto on Tuesday.
Stage 5: 216km, Chieti - Colmurano.
1 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana 5:32:22, 2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone, 3 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana, 4 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team, 5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:08, 6 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank, 7 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini, 8 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia, 9 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli, 10 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox.
General classification:
1 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 23:40:44, 2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 0:00:10, 3 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana 0:00:15, 4 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:18, 5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:27, 6 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:29, 7 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox, 8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:31, 9 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:48, 10 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:00:53.
