Australia's Matthew Goss wins third stage of Giro d'Italia

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 on Sunday, fell hard on his left shoulder but got up and carried his bike across the finish.

The BMC team said Phinney's right ankle had a puncture wound. He also had scrapes on his right elbow and limped up to the pink jersey podium celebration.

"You don't see a lot of crashes like that in the last kilometer, especially the last couple hundred meters," Phinney said. "I hit the ground really hard and also must have had something hit me, because I have a little stab wound in my ankle."

With Tuesday being a rest day before the race travels back to Italy, Phinney and Cavendish have some time to recover.

"Mark's had a bad crash and is very uncomfortable but we're taking care of him," Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman said. "We're traveling as a team to Verona."

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.

The stage featured an entirely flat 118-mile 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.

BMC team assistant director Fabio Baldato said Phinney will join the rest of the team on a charter flight Monday night from Denmark to Italy.

"Team president Jim Ochowicz and our race doctor, Dario Spinelli, will go with Taylor to a hospital in Verona tonight and we'll have an update afterward," Baldato said.

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 20-mile time trial in Verona on Wednesday.