Leonardo Bertagnolli won the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia with a long breakaway yesterday in severe heat, while Denis Menchov held onto the overall leader’s pink jersey.

Pre-race favorite Ivan Basso and another former Giro winner, Stefano Garzelli, launched a failed attack on the penultimate of six climbs but couldn’t maintain more than a minute lead on Menchov and the other leaders.

The temperature soared above 35 degrees Celsius all along the 161-kilometre route from Forli to Faenza.

Bertagnolli was the sole remaining rider from a 14-man breakaway that formed at the 27-kilometre mark. An Italian with the Diquigiovanni team, he clocked 4 hours, 18 minutes, 34 seconds.

“It was very tiring,” said Bertagnolli, who is from northern Italy but lives near Faenza. “It’s a big victory in a great stage. I wanted to win at home. I heard a lot of fans cheering for me.”

Serge Pauwels of Belgium finished 54 seconds behind and Marco Pinotti of Italy was third with the same time.

Pauwels shared the lead with Bertagnolli until his Cervelo squad ordered him to slow up shortly before the finish, apparently to wait for teammate Carlos Sastre, the defending Tour de France champion. The move backfired because Sastre finished far behind with the other leaders.

Menchov and all the other leaders crossed 1:56 behind, while seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong finished 2:56 back.

A Russian with the Rabobank team, Menchov maintained a 34-second lead over Italy’s Danilo Di Luca in the overall standings. Levi Leipheimer of the United States is third overall, 43 seconds back.

Basso remained sixth, 3:03 behind Menchov.

The stage started and finished on the via Emilia — an ancient Roman road — with six minor climbs in between.

Basso attacked on the climb to Monte Casale and Garzelli joined him in the front.

With Basso and Garzelli still ahead on the final ascent to Monte Trebbio, Di Luca launched a counterattack and Menchov and Sastre followed. The Di Luca-Menchov-Sastre trio opened up a 50-meter lead on Leipheimer and a select group of other riders, but couldn’t maintain it.

“We reacted well and in the end we all finished together,” Di Luca said.

Basso and Garzelli’s attack then sputtered out on the final downhill stretch and the other favorites caught them with about 15 kilometres to go.

“At the end it wasn’t enough, but it was still a good move,” Basso said. “We’ve got to continue along these lines, try every day, and hope something good happens.”

Armstrong dropped back on each of the last two climbs and was helped to the finish by Astana teammate Yaroslav Popovych. Armstrong crossed 26th and moved up from 14th to 13th overall, 8:28 behind Menchov.

Armstrong is still regaining his form after three and a half years of retirement and after having broken his collarbone in March.

Leipheimer was already weary from the heat and didn’t follow when Basso attacked.

“When Ivan went, I didn’t think it was a good idea and I didn’t even try, and obviously it wasn’t,” the Montana native said. “There was no way around it. You’re not going to feel good when you’re with the 5-6 best uphill guys in this kind of heat, but I was there and I wasn’t going to get dropped.”

British rider David Millar withdrew midway through the stage and American sprinter Tyler Farrar pulled out before the leg started.

Today’s 16th stage could be decisive, with a steep uphill finish to Monte Petrano concluding a lengthy 237-kilometre leg that begins in Pergola.

The race ends May 31 in Rome.