Giro stage joy for de Clercq

CYCLING: OMEGA Pharma-Lotto rider Bart de Clercq held on to win the seventh stage of the Giro d’Italia yesterday with race leader Pieter Weening retaining the pink jersey.

Belarus’s Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC-Highroad) is two seconds behind overall with Italian Marco Pinotti third.

Belgian de Clercq, in his first year as a professional, covered the shortest stage of this year’s Giro in 2 hours and 54 minutes.