'Ale-Jet' wins disputed Stage 2 Giro sprint;
'Manx Missile' in pink

Two prolific Giro d'Italia sprint winners of recent years battled to a controversial finish in Parma on Sunday.

Known as well by their nicknames Ale-Jet and Manx Missile, Italy's Alessandro Petacchi edged Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) by the width of a bicycle tire at the finish line.

While Petacchi threw up is arms in celebration, Cavendish gestured angrily at his rival and then the judges, motioning that he'd been cut off in the last hundred yards of the sprint. [Video from UnversalSports.com shows how it all unfolded.]

Ruling for Petacchi

The judges ruled in favor of homeboy Petacchi of Team Lampre, granting him the Stage 2 victory. Cavendish had to settle with gaining the overall leader's maglia rosa, which he earned by gaining sprint points at the finish from HTC-Highroad teammate Marco Pinotti. (Pinotti, Cavendish and three other teammates were tied for first after winning the Stage 1 team time trial.)

The red mountain jersey went to Germany's Sebastian Lang of Omega as he was first to summit the only climb of the day ahead of the peloton in his grueling, but unsuccessful, solo breakaway.

After Lang was reeled in near the finish in Parma, it didn't appear that any team could develop a good lead-out for their sprinter.

Sprint

Nearing the end, Garmin-Cervelo came to the front with the best form for sprinter Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, WA). They surrendered to Danilo Hondo leading out Petacchi for Lampre.

In the final 100 yards or so, Mark Renshaw took over the lead with Cavendish right on his wheel. Petacchi attacked on the right side of Renshaw and Cavendish went to the left.

The first views of the video appeared that Cavendish was just whining about getting beat, but overhead replays show that Petacchi swept to the left after passing Renshaw, momentarily blocking Cavendish, before drifting back toward the center.

Later, Cavendish says Petacchi came off his line three times in the last 200 meters, forcing him to stop and start his sprint at least two times.

So be it.

Results

Manuel Belletti (Colnago) finished in 3rd and Farrar finished in 7th.

The top positions in the overal classification are still dominated by HTC-Columbia, as Craig Lewis of Greenville, SC, moved up to 3rd place overall.

Another American, Bjorn Selander of Team Radio Shack, retained the Young Rider jersey.

Top 10 Overall

Stage 3 preview

Another day for the sprinters, if they can survive a gradual climb to Passo del Bocco and a steep, but short, climb up Madonna del Grazie. The stage is 107 mile (173km) from Reggio Emilia to Rapallo. Take a Streetview tour of the Madonna del Grazie climb.