Mario Cipollini helped the Giro d'Italia forget the problems of doping and police raids for a while bywinning the 19th stage today.
The Italian won the sprint finish at the end of the 181-km stage from Alba to Busto Arsizio ahead of compatriot Marco Zanotti, who was second,with Danilo Hondo of Germany third.
It was the 33rd Giro stage victory of his career and eighth win of the season.
Gilberto Simoni of Italy retained his overall lead. He has a 15-second advantage on Dario Frigo and is 4:28 ahead of Abraham Olano of Spain.
On Thursday, the riders refused to start the 18th stage from San Remo in protest against the raids on their hotels by Italian drugs police onWednesday evening.
However, as they had promised at the end of a seven hour crisis meeting on Thursday, the riders started the 19th stage without any form ofprotest.