Matteo Bono couldn't believe it, he won the toughest stage of Tirreno-Adriatico (San Benedetto del Tronto-San Giacomo Monti della Laga, 164 km with a mountain top finish): born in Ome (Brescia) in 1983, second year pro with Lampre-Fondital, Bono conquered the glory (and his first pro victory) on a perfect day. In a breakaway of 10 riders which started after the first kilometers, Lampre-Fondital’s rider attacked at 4,5 kilometers before the finishline, just where the climb became tougher; Bono kept on pedaling with grind, leaving behind all his opponents and reached the finish line with a lead of 32” on Gasparotto and 41” on Visconti.
"I still can’t believe I won, but luckily it’s all true and it’s all so beautiful," Bono Commented. "I knew I was in a good shape, but I didn’t imagine that I could be so strong: in the breakaway there were very strong athletes, such as Freire, and I thought that I could obtain a good result. I tried to attack on the climb: I immediately looked for somebody to help me, but I noticed that no one could follow me, so I began to think only to pedal. I would like to dedicate this victory to my family, to all the people that support me in my activity, to Lampre-Fondital’s management that allowed me to become a pro cyclist, to the team sponsors, to Bruno Leali that guided me in amateurs and to Polisportiva Camignone where I began to cycle."

Behind Bono there was a fierce battle for the overall lead. Astana took the iniative when Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) attacked on the final climb. Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner), who won Sundays ITT and was wearing the yellow jersey, was cracking and as the group with Kim Kirchen (T-Mobile), Stefan Schumacher and Andreas Klöden (Astana) came back to Vinokourov, Kirchen and Klöden were able to drop Schumacher. New race leader is Andreas Klöden, with Kim Kirchen only 3 seconds behind him.

Kim gave it everything on the final climb, but unfortunately he just lacked a few seconds in the end. But I am delighted with the way the team worked and performed today," said T-Mobile sporting director Valerio Piva.

Klöden said: "Ofcourse I want to keep my lead." 'Klödi' continued by saying: "If it fails, than that's a pitty but Tirreno never was a goal. This stage race is only lying on my road to July. The Tour, the great goal of my campaign." The treatment of his friend Jan Ullrich by his former team (T-Mobile) and the German cycling federation seems not to be forgotten, after a reporter said he was close to give Germany and Astana a nice victory Klöden said: "I don't race for Germany, I race for Astana." Klöden continued with: "And for Kazachstan because we not only have sponsors behind us but a whole nation. It has a lot to do with this team that I am standing here in the leaders jersey. We found each other and the enthousiasm is catching. But most of all: I have had a winter without problems. That is the main explanation for my success."

Last years overall winner Thomas Dekker lost more than 10 minutes yesterday after he had became fever the night before. Dekker won't start on the final stage today, and also won't start at Milano-San Remo. In an sms Dekker wrote: "Yesterday evening fever.. I cleaned my bed twice last night, totally wet from sweating. Not to much moral this morning but I was hoping that I could maintain my position on the final climb. It is a pitty but the power of the last days was not in my legs anymore."