Alessandro Petacchi won his second straight stage in the Giro d'Italia on Monday to take the overall lead. The Italian beat Tyler Farrar of the United States and Francesco Gavazzi of Italy in a sprint finish to end the third leg, taking the pink jersey from British standout Mark Cavendish. Petacchi covered the 198-km leg from Grado to Valdobbiadene at the footsteps of the Dolomite Range in 4 hours, 45 minutes, 27 seconds. Farrar and Gavazzi finished with the same time. A crash in the final kilometers divided the main pack, and Cavendish was caught behind. He finished 1 minute, 25 seconds behind Petacchi. Petacchi now holds an eight-second lead on Farrar in the overall standings. Lance Armstrong, who is competing in his first Giro, finished in the main pack. He crossed 50th with the same time as Petacchi, moving the seven-time Tour de France winner up from 10th to fifth overall, 31 seconds behind Petacchi. “I just tried to stay out of trouble again. We had another dangerous circuit,” Armstrong said. “The best place to be is in the front if you can, avoid the crashes, avoid the things we saw today. “I heard a couple but missed them all, thank goodness.” Danilo Di Luca, the 2007 Giro winner, sits sixth overall, nine seconds behind Armstrong. Race favorite Ivan Basso is 24th, 40 seconds behind Armstrong. Denis Menchov was the only rider with aspirations for overall victory caught behind due to the crash. The Russian lost 24 seconds.
