Alessandro Petacchi won the third stage of the Giro d'Italia in a sprint finish on Monday and Enrico Gasparotto regained the leader's pink jersey from teammate Danilo Di Luca.
Petacchi, who rides for Milram, covered the flat 181km route from Barumini to Cagliari in a time of 4 hours, 22 minutes, 57 seconds.
"It was a very long sprint over cobblestones. It was one of the best sprints of my career," Petacchi said.
PHOTO: AFP
Robert Forster, a German with the Gerolsteiner team, was second. Ariel Maximilian Richeze, an Argentine who rides for Panaria, was third, and Robbie McEwen of Australia was fourth.
After his Milram team set him up perfectly, Petacchi was passed by McEwen and Paolo Bettini in the final meters of the second stage on Sunday.
Monday's victory was the 20th Giro stage win of Petacchi's career. He won six stages in 2003, nine in 2004 and four in 2005. He fell and withdrew with a broken kneecap in the third stage last year.
"I said before the Giro that a victory would be like winning my first [ever] stage. I suffered a lot after the injury," a tearful Petacchi said. "I had a lot of doubts about whether I would return to my top level."
Gasparotto, of the Liquigas team, regained the overall lead by placing eighth in the sprint finish.
"We decided this morning that I would not take part in the sprint," said Di Luca, who finished 82nd.
Several riders were involved in a crash shortly before the finish for the second straight day.
Five riders formed a breakaway at the start of the stage and held as much as a seven-minute advantage over the main pack after about 75km.
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