Cycling-Simoni wins first mountain stage of Giro, takes lead

— -- CORNO ALLE SCALE, Italy, May 11 - Gilberto Simoni of Italy won stage three of the Giro d'Italia from Pontremoli to Corno alle Scale on Tuesday with a strong ride on the first mountain stage and snatched the overall lead. Simoni, Giro winner last year, attacked two kilometres from the finish and crossed the line 15 seconds ahead of his Saeco team mate and fellow Italian Damiano Cunego, according to provisional results. Franco Pellizotti of Italy finished third, one second behind Cunego. Thanks to his 15-second winning margin and the 20-second time bonus awarded to the stage winner, Simoni took over the race leader's pink jersey. He now leads Cunego by 13 seconds with Yaroslav Popovych of Ukraine third at 21 seconds.