FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - Briton Mark Cavendish recovered from an early mishap to sprint away with the 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday while Russia's Denis Menchov kept the overall lead.
Team Columbia's Cavendish, who turned 24 on Thursday, burnt off LPR's Alessandro Petacchi on the final straight to take a 3-2 lead in stage victories over his Italian rival in this year's race.
Cavendish had to change bikes shortly after the start of the stage because of a bump with French rider Yohann Gene.
The pack arrived together at the end of a virtually flat 176 kms run from Lido di Camaiore to Florence and there was little change in the overall standings with Menchov still holding a 34-second lead over Italian Danilo Di Luca, according to provisional results.
(Writing by Paul Virgo in Rome; Editing by John Mehaffey)