TOURS, France - Alessandro Petacchi won the Paris-Tours cycling race on Sunday, heading the pack that caught up with a group of breakaway riders with only 500 meters (yards) left.

Team Milram's Alessandro Petacchi of Italy celebrates as he wins the 256-km Paris-Tours cycling race in Tours, western France, October 14, 2007. [Agencies]

The Milram rider edged past fellow Italian Francesco Chicchi in second, and Spanish sprinter Oscar Freire in third.

Petacchi clocked 5 hours, 32 minutes, 37 seconds for the 256 kilometer (159 mile) ride from Paris to Tours, in the heart of France's Loire Valley known for its sumptuous castles.

The win comes just days after an announcement Tuesday by the Italian Olympic Committee that the World Anti-Doping Agency has called for a ban against Petacchi for using an asthma drug.

Italy's cycling federation cleared Petacchi of any wrongdoing after he registered a "non negative" test for salbutamol after winning a stage in the Giro d'Italia on May 23.

The committee said WADA was joining an appeal of that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, sport's highest tribunal. The court has said it will make a ruling on the matter, but has not set a date.