It was a double celebration on Friday for Italian sprinter Daniele Bennati, who won Stage 3 at Tirreno-Adriatico and moved into the overall lead of the seven-day Italian race.

Team Liquigas' Bennati, who's won three stages at the Giro d'Italia over his career, edged compatriot Alessando Petacchi of Lampre for his first-ever stage win at Tirreno. Bennati used a powerful lead-out from three of his Liquigas teammates to shoot across the line half a bike length in front of Petacchi.

Both riders clocked three hours, 54 minutes, nine seconds over the 159 kilometer stage from San Miniato to Monsummano Terme.

The victory pushed Bennati to the top of the overall standings. The Italian, who will wear the race-leader's blue jersey in tomorrow's stage, holds a four-second edge on Milram's Linus Gerdemann. Bennati also took over the red jersey as new leader of the points classification.

Bernhard Eisel of Team HTC-Columbia came in third on the day.

Daniele Bennati on the podium.

A trio of riders, including Androni's Cameron Wurf, Omega Pharma's Sebastian Lang and LSD's Diego Caccia, shook up the stage when they escaped from the peloton with about 40 kilometers to go, eventually building a lead of more than two minutes. The escapees were finally tracked down with about 25 kilometers to go but not before Caccia earned enough points to move into the lead of the mountains classification.

The Tirreno-Adriatico continues Saturday with the race's longest stage, a 243 kilometer ride from San Gemini to Chieti.

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