Italian Daniele Bennati won the third stage of the Giro d'Italia in Milazzo to record his first ever success in the race.

His Liquigas team-mate Franco Pellizotti retained the overall leader's pink jersey.

Bennati - winner of two stages in the Tour de France and three in the Tour of Spain last year - edged out German veteran Erik Zabel in a sprint finish at the end of the 221 kilometres ride - Zabel's compatriot Danilo Hondo was third.

"It's great to finally win a stage at the Giro d'Italia and a great day for Liquigas because we've also kept the race lead," Bennati said.

"I've won stages at the Tour de France and the Vuelta in recent years and now it's perfect, I've got wins in all three major stage races.

The stage saw the end of Australian rider Bradley McGee's challenge as the 32-year-old - who wore the pink jersey for two days in the 2004 Giro - took a crashing fall around 20 kilometres from the finish.

McGee looked to have injured his collarbone.

Another group crash involved Sunday's stage winner Riccardo Ricco, but the Italian was able to resume the race, though, he suffered a suspected fracture of the index finger of his left hand.

"The early stages of Giro are always dangerous and the last few kilometres were very bad," Bennati said.

"I stayed near the front out of the trouble but behind it must have been crazy.

"I took advantage of the Milram team in the sprint because they were leading out Zabel. I jumped past him early, with 250 metres to go but nobody had the speed to come past me."

The Giro moves from Sicily to the Italian mainland on Tuesday with the fourth stage, a 183km ride from Pizzo Calabro to Catanzaro lungomare.

Reuters / AFP