British specialist Mark Cavendish won his second Giro d’Italia stage in three days, taking the 12th leg with another sprint victory yesterday.

Alberto Contador retained the overall lead, with a long series of difficult mountain stages beginning today.

Cavendish rode the mostly flat 184-kilometre (114-mile) route from Castelfidardo to Ravenna in 4 hours, 17 minutes, 25 seconds. Italians Davide Appollonio and Alessandro Petacchi finished second and third, respectively, both with the same time.

“This was the last sprint in this Giro and it’s really big for me and the team,” Cavendish said. “I’m going home tonight to recuperate for the Tour de France. But it was a successful Giro for me and the team.”

Cavendish also won stage 10 on Tuesday, and has seven Giro victories in his career.

After five kilometres (three miles), four riders broke away from the main pack: Miguel Minguez Ayala of Spain, Davide Ricci Bitti of Italy, Stefan Clement of the Netherlands and Michal Golas of Poland.

The four riders led by more than three minutes at one point but were caught by the pack with 14 kilometres (nine miles) to go.

Cavendish’s HTC-High Road team rode in front for the final kilometres (miles) and launched the Isle of Man rider for a perfect sprint.

Several riders crashed just before the final kilometre.