Spaniard Oscar Freire (Rabobank) took the lead in the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race after winning the 168km third stage between Maddaloni and Isernia on Friday.

The 28-year-old Freire came in ahead of Ukrainian rider Vladimir Duma (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) and Rabobank teammate Michael Boogerd of the Netherlands for his third stage win of the season.

He overtakes Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), winner of the first two stages, as the overall leader.

The battle started early with a series of attacks from Spaniard Angel Vicioso (Liberty Seguros), Estonian Janek Tombak (Cofidis) and Italian Simone Masciarelli (Vini Caldirola) before the trio were caught.

Eleven riders – including Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), Swiss duo Oscar Camenzind (Phonak) and Marcus Zberg (Gerolsteiner), and Ukrainian Jaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) – broke away and built up a 28-second lead some 7km from the line.

Following a last attack by Popovych, the peloton caught the group and Freire responded perfectly to the final slight climb to Isernia by surging ahead in the final 100 meters.

"It was more difficult than I thought because I was tired but the others were obviously just as tired," said Freire. –Copyright 2004/AFP