Alessandro Petacchi claimed victory on stage three of the Giro D'Italia on Monday as a major crash 10 kilometres from the finish held up a late charge from Mark Cavendish to cost him the pink jersey.

Cavendish was looking in good shape as he chased down the leaders in the final stages, but the Colombia-Highroad man saw the road ahead blocked as around a dozen riders, including contender Levi Leiphemer, fell.

That allowed LPR's Petacchi and a handful of other riders to break free and, although Cavendish initially tried to get back into the mix, he realised around three kilometres from the end that hope was lost and sat up on his bike to finish around 90 seconds behind the Italian, who has claimed the pink jersey.

It is a second stage win for Petacchi, who sits in first place in the standings eight seconds ahead of Garmin-Slipstream's Tyler Farrar, who followed him over the line in second today.

Petacchi left it late to make his move after the crash however, with the veteran initially allowing Marzio Bruseghin and then Giovanni Visconti to make a break for it.

But the 35-year-old rekindled memories of his days as the world's best sprinter as he followed a burst from Filippo Pozzato to move to the front.

Farrar came across the line in second to take the sting out of a costly day for his team as Christian Vande Velde crashed out and was taken to hospital for tests on what is said to be a deeply-bruised femur.

Lampre-NGC's Francesco Gavazzi finished in third

Earlier in the stage, Quick Step's Mauro Facci had led a five-man breakaway, building up a lead of around seven minutes before eventually being caught 40 kilometres from the end.

Leiphemer's crash means he has failed to catch Astana team-mate Lance Armstrong in the overall standings, although he has moved up from 18th to eighth, with Armstrong now fifth.