THE SIDELINES : Giovannetti of Italy Stages Upset in Cycling’s Tour of Spain Win

MADRID — Marco Giovannetti of Italy beat the odds and a field of top international cyclists to win the Tour of Spain today after 22 grueling days of racing.

Giovannetti, 28, who has been racing professionally for six years, became the fourth Italian to win the 2,292-mile event.

Regarded as a long shot in a field that included such outstanding cyclists as Pedro Delgado and Miguel Idurain of Spain, Giovannetti led for 11 legs.

He clinched the victory Monday in the next-to-last leg by repelling repeated attacks by Delgado, a two-time winner and Tour of France champion.

“He made me suffer a lot,” Giovannetti said. “That was one of the worst moments.”

The top positions remained the same after the last stage today, a 110-mile route that ended along the crowd-lined streets of downtown Madrid.

Giovannetti’s total time of 94 hours, 36:40 minutes was 1:28 better than Delgado and 1:48 faster than Anselmo Fuerte of Spain.

Uwe Rabb of East Germany won the last leg in an unofficial time of 4 hours, 44 minutes and 24 seconds.