Macon (France): Matteo Tosatto of Italy won stage 18 at the Tour de France, winning a sprint against two other breakaway riders as the three-week race left the Alps.
Compatriot Cistian Moreni of Cofidis placed second, and Gerolsteiner rider Ronny Scholz of Germany was third in the 197-kilometer (122.4-mile) ride from Morzine to Macon.
The two Italians each clocked 4 hours, 16 minutes, 15 seconds, while Scholz was to seconds behind. It was the first win by an Italian at this year's Tour.
Spain's Oscar Pereiro retained the race leader's yellow jersey, after he and other top Tour contenders rode in a trailing main pack over the relatively easy stage after three tough days in the Alps.
Pereiro, of the Ills Balears team, and his main rivals for the Tour title cruised in 8 minutes behind Tosatto.
The victory was a first in four Tour appearances for Tossato, a QuickStep rider who won the 2004 Tour of Tuscany. He pumped his right fist and screamed as he crossed the line.
"Moreni, I know is fast -- but I'm fast too," Tosatto said, recalling how the three men had dashed ahead with about 18 kilometers (11.2 miles) to go. "I gave it my all."
The big shakeout in the Tour was expected on Saturday in the second and final individual time trial, the last big test of cycling's premier race before it ends on Sunday on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Saturday's race against the clock, in which riders leave one by one in reverse order of the standings, takes riders 57 kilometers (35.4 miles) from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines.
Going in, Pereiro holds a 12-second lead over second-placed countryman Carlos Sastre, and American Floyd Landis, in third, is 30 seconds back.
"I know Floyd is better than me in the time trial, but I'm going to go all out," Pereiro said.
Landis, for his part, said he was "optimistic" about Saturday's stage.
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