Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) has won Stage 2 of the 2011 Giro d'Italia. The Italian veteran took a bunch sprint to win the flat, 244-km run from Alba to Parma in 5:45:40. Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) finished second, and Manuel Belletti (Colnago-CSF) finished third. Cavendish is the new maglia rosa.

Sebastian Lang (Omega Pharma-Lotto) was the break of the day. In the first few km, Lang sallied off of the front and ran up a 20-minute lead before the peloton bothered to chase.

HTC-Highroad led the pursuit. The gap fell to 10 minutes at 174 km and 4:30 at 184 km. At 210 km, with his lead down to 1:30, Lang began to soft pedal. The peloton reeled him in with 26 km left.

Leonardo Giordani (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) attacked, and Michal Golas (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto) joined him. Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Jerome Pineau (Quick Step), Ruggero Marzoli (Acqua & Sapone), Ivan Rovny (RadioShack), and Daniele Righi (Lampre-ISD) jumped into the break.

The octet forged a 30-second lead before the bunch began to chase. With 10 km left, Vorganov crashed out of the break, and two km later, the bunch reeled in the fugitives.

Several teams paced the field, but Garmin-Cervelo took the field into the last km. On the next-to-last turn, Danilo Hondo (Lampre-ISD) led out Petacchi. Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad) led Cavendish into the lead. With 200 m remaining, Petacchi jumped into the lead and pipped Cavendish.

In the overall, Cavendish leads teammates Konstantin Sivtsov and Craig Lewis by 0:12. Stage 3 will be a hilly, 173-km ride from Emilia to Rapallo. Will Cavendish keep the maglia rosa? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!