Cavendish wins 13th stage of Giro

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) " Mark Cavendish of Britain won the 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia in a mass sprint Friday, the third time he has won a leg of this year's race. Denis Menchov of Russia kept the overall leader's pink jersey.

The course ended next to the Arno river, within sight of Florence's famed Duomo cathedral. With the temperature hovering near 86 degrees most of the way, riders struggled to stay hydrated.

Menchov maintained a 34-second lead over Danilo Di Luca of Italy in the overall standings. Levi Leipheimer of the United States is third, 40 seconds behind.

Menchov, Di Luca, Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong finished with the main pack, eight seconds behind Cavendish.

Armstrong has stopped speaking to reporters, apparently angry over the fallout of a rider protest he helped orchestrate in Milan last weekend. The seven-time Tour de France champion remained 12th overall, 6 minutes, 34 seconds behind Menchov.

"St 13 is done. And was done fast," Armstrong wrote on his Twitter feed. "I think we averaged almost 30 (mph) for 110 miles. Crazy!! All is well tho. Congrats to Cav-o."

Cavendish rides for Team Columbia-High Road and was set up for the sprint again by Australian teammate Mark Renshaw.

"I got another perfect lead-out from my teammates," Cavendish said. "They spent a lot of time in the wind and did such a good job that I didn't have to go flat out. I was 80 percent."

Cavendish was timed in 3 hours, 48 minutes, 36 seconds over the almost entirely flat 109-mile leg that started in Lido di Camaiore. Alessandro Petacchi of Italy finished second and Allan Davis of Australia was third, both with the same time as Cavendish.

Cavendish won the prestigious Milan-San Remo single-day classic in March and wore the pink jersey for two stages after Columbia won the team time trial that opened the Giro. Petacchi won the second and third stages in sprints, but Cavendish has gotten the better of him lately.

"When (Renshaw) started the sprint, I lost five meters right away," Petacchi said.

With no more clear chances for sprinters, Cavendish could leave the race before the 14th stage, an undulating 107-mile run from Campi Bisenzio to Bologna, with an uphill finish. The race ends May 31 in Rome.

"I don't know. We'll see. I want to carry on," Cavendish said. "The team is doing so well. We'll talk about it tonight."

The stage started along the Tuscan coast, then moved inland past Lucca. Leonardo Scarselli, Mikhail Ignatiev and Bjorn Schroeder broke away after 7 1/2 miles and established a 5:25 lead over the main pack.

Schroeder, a German with the Milram team, left Scarselli and Ignatiev behind with a bit more than 18 miles to go but was caught by the pack within nearly 4 miles of the finish.