Mark Cavendish loses Tour of Croatia lead to Giacomo Nizzolo

Mark Cavendish lost the lead of the Tour of Croatia after finishing fourth on stage three on Thursday.

The Manxman hadn't expected to retain the red jersey on a 190.8km rolling route from Makarska to Sibenik but was given the chance to do so when the day ended in a sprint finish.

However, he was positioned badly coming out of the final corner and could only look on as Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) claimed his second win of the race by beating Timothy Dupont (Verandas Willems) into second place and Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) into third.

Nizzolo had started the day second overall, on the same time as Cavendish (Dimension Data), but collected 10 bonus seconds for his victory and now returns to the top of the general classification.

Cavendish drops to second, 10 seconds back, while Dupont is 16 seconds adrift in third.

The six-day race continues on Friday with a 122.1km fourth stage ending with a summit finish at Ucka. Saturday's fifth stage is a 40.3km team time trial, while Sunday's final stage into Zagreb should end in a sprint.

Meanwhile, Team Sky's Mikel Landa fended off a barrage of attacks to retain his overall lead of the Giro del Trentino in Italy.

The Spaniard came under heavy pressure on both the day's final climb and the descent to the finish in Mezzolombardo, but he resisted all advances and crossed the line in a small group of favourites 10 seconds behind solo winner Tanel Kangert (Astana), who escaped with about 1.5km to go.

Kangert is now second overall, eight seconds down on Landa, while Astana team-mate Jakob Fuglsang is 10 seconds back in third.

The four-day race concludes on Friday with a 160.9km rolling stage from Male to Cles.

Tour of Croatia stage three result

1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, 4:35:42

2 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Verandas Willems, same time

3 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling, st

4 Mark Cavendish (GB) Dimension Data, st

5 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF

Tour of Croatia general classification

1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, 15:35:39

2 Mark Cavendish (GB) Dimension Data, +10sec

3 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Verandas Willems, +16

4 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data, +20

5 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling, +22

Giro del Trentino stage three result

1 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana, 5:05:27

2 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Argon 18, +10sec

3 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, same time

4 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, st

5 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo, st

Giro del Trentino general classification

1 Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, 10:37:33

2 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana, +8sec

3 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, +10

4 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo, +15

5 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +20