Alessandro Petacchi seized the overall lead at the Giro d'Italia with his second stage victory in a row.
Cavendish surrenders pink jersey on stage three
Home favourite Alessandro Petacchi seized the overall lead at the Giro d'Italia with his second stage victory in a row.
The LPR rider prevailed in a bunch sprint at the conclusion of stage three, which covered 198 kilometres from Grado to Valdobbiadene.
He made the most of a crash near the front of the peloton around 10km from the finish that split the field in two and distanced many of his sprint rivals.
When it came to the final rush for the line, Petacchi burst three bike lengths clear and comfortably held off American Tyler Farrar's late surge.
Garmin-Slipstream's Farrar came home second with Italian Francesco Gavazzi of Lampre completing the top three.
Petacchi's win also saw him assume the pink jersey from Britain's Mark Cavendish, who lost one minute and 25 seconds after being caught up on the wrong side of the late crash.
Christian Vande Velde was forced to withdraw from the race after being involved in a crash with Garmin-Slipstream team-mate David Zabriskie at the 140km mark.
Vande Velde, who finished fifth in last year's Tour de France, was taken to a local hospital to be checked out, while Zabriskie was able to remount and rejoin the pack.
Leading final positions after stage 3 (198km from Grado to Valdobbiadene):1. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA) LPR 4hr 45min 27sec
2. Tyler Farrar (USA) at same time
3. Francesco Gavazzi (ITA) at same time
4. Dario Cataldo (ITA) at same time
5. Damiano Cunego (ITA) at same time
6. Philippe Gilbert (BEL) at same time
7. Oscar Gatto (ITA) at same time
8. Michael Rogers (AUS) at same time
9. Anders Lund (DEN) at same time
10. Stefano Garzelli (ITA) at same time
11. Enrico Gasparotto (ITA) at same time
12. Danilo Di Luca (ITA) at same time
13. Jens Voigt (GER) at same time
14. Eduard Vorganov (RUS) at same time
15. Thomas Rohregger (AUT) at same time
16. Philip Deignan (IRL) at same time
17. Jackson Rodriguez (VEN) at same time
18. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR) at same time
19. Kevin Seeldrayers (BEL) at same time
20. Pablo Lastras Garcia (ESP) at same time
