Goss wins stage; Cavendish and Phinney in crash

Matthew Goss of Australia won the third stage of the Giro d'Italia on Monday, while world champion Mark Cavendish and overall leader Taylor Phinney were involved in a crash in the high-speed sprint finish.

Phinney maintained the overall lead, since times are neutralized when there are crashes at the end of flat stages.

Cavendish, who won stage 2 Sunday, fell hard on his left shoulder but got up and carried his bike across the finish.

Phinney injured his right foot and had scrapes on his right elbow. He limped up to the pink jersey podium celebration.

``The injury is fairly deep on my foot. I must have hit something when I fell,'' Phinney said. ``It's too bad, but that's cycling. Hopefully it's nothing serious. It's good that tomorrow is a rest day.''

Italian rider Roberto Ferrari appeared to cause the crash by cutting Cavendish off and was relegated to last place by the race jury.

Goss finished in 4 hours, 20 minutes, 53 seconds. Juan Jose Haedo of Saxo Bank finished second and Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Barracuda was third, both with the same time.

Goss, who rides for the Orica-Greenedge team, won last year's Milan-San Remo classic.

``My teammates rode really well today and I was happy I could finish it off for them and avoid the carnage behind,'' Goss said.

The stage featured an entirely flat 190-kilometer route beginning and ending in Horsens.

Phinney won the opening time trial Saturday to become the first American to wear the pink jersey since Christian Vande Velde in 2008 and only the third all-time after Andy Hampsten won the race in 1988.

Phinney is not a contender for overall victory since he is not a good climber.

Six riders broke away at the start of the stage and established a lead of more than three minutes, but were then caught by the main pack with 25 kilometers to go.

The stage began with a minute of silence to remember Wouter Weylandt, the Belgian rider who died in last year's third stage. The race also paid tribute to Horsens Mayor Jan Troejborg, who died Sunday of a heart attack while biking.

After a rest day Tuesday, the race returns to Italy with a 33.2-kilometre time trial in Verona on Wednesday.
 

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