and Óscar Freire. There followed a 6th place, a 4th place, some unsuccessful breakaways, and then, after the last mountain stages, Bennati won twice, including the prestigious final stage on the Champs-Elysees. On the strength of his successes, he was named the leader of the Lampre team for the Vattenfall Cyclassics race, but watched as his teammate Ballan took off from the peloton and held on to win. In September, Bennati raced in his second Grand Tour of the season, the 2007 Vuelta a España. He won the first stage ahead of Freire and Petacchi]], and wore the leader's jersey for a day, losing it after a fall two kilometers from the finish of the second stage. After two second places, he came into his own during the final week, just as he had in the Tour de France: Bennati won the 17th stage and then the final stage in Madrid, taking the leadership in the contest for the points jersey on the final day of the race. This victory, his tenth of 2007, marked the end of Bennati's season. Although he had been scheduled to compete in the Monte Paschi Eroica and Paris–Tours, he was found to have a broken wrist that ruled out any more racing. During the final week of the Vuelta a España, Bennati had signed a two-year contract with a new team: . Claudio Corioni and Enrico Franzoi, valuable teammates who formed an important part of his leadout train, also signed for Liquigas. 2008–10: Liquigas 2008 season The move to Liquigas brought up some potential frictions: they now had two stars, Bennati and Filippo Pozzato, whose primary targets for the year would be similar. Any conflict in their spring racing goals disappeared, however, with Bennati's knee injury – a slight patellar chondropathy in the left knee, associated with inflammation of the lateral ligament – keeping him out of action until the end of April. He did not finish his first race back (the Giro d'Oro, but in his next race, the Giro del Trentino, he took 17th in the opening time trial but did not figure in any of the stage finishes. The Tour de Romandie opened with a very short prologue, where Bennati took second behind Mark Cavendish. He also took second behind Robbie McEwen in the first sprint finish, showing that he was coming back into form. This was confirmed with a victory