AGRIGENTO, Italy (AFP) - Italian Riccardo Ricco of the Saunier Duval team threw down the gauntlet to his rivals for the Giro d'Italia's pink jersey by sprinting to victory in the second stage here Sunday.

Liquigas rider Franco Pellizotti took the race lead from American Christian Vandevelde of Slipstream, who had led his team towards victory in the opening stage's team time trial.

Vandevelde, who on Saturday became the first American to wear the pink jersey since Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro, was left trailing on the climb leading to the finish line of the 207km stage which crossed from north to southern Sicily.

The American is now 01sec behind the Italian with Denmark's Chris Sorensen third overall at 07.

Ricco came into this race proclaiming his ambition to win the 'maglia rose', and gave reigning champion Danilo Di Luca Davide, Davide Rebellin and Pellizotti an indication of his determination with a tactically astute finish.

He upped the tempo to close the gap on Joaquim Rodriguez around 50 metres from the finish after the Spanish champion had attacked with one kilometre to go, at the steepest part of the closing climb.

It was Ricco's second stage win in the three-week race, having claimed victory on the prestigious stage at Trois Cimes de Lavaredo last year, when he finished sixth overall.

Di Luca, of LPR, finished second with Gerolsteiner all-rounder Rebellin in third.

Later Ricco revealed he had been among the riders involved in the crash which ended American David Zabriskie's Giro 60km from the finish line.

"I hope that's me done with bad luck for this race," said Ricco, who also hit the tarmac during the Tirreno Adriatico race and at the Tour of the Basque Country, and suffered from flu during the hilly Ardennes Classics.

"I'm a lot fresher for this Giro than last year but I'm still not 100 percent, although I hope to be once we hit the mountains. That's where the race will be decided."

Spaniard Alberto Contador, Italian Enrico Gasparotto and Austria's Christian Pfannberger were also caught up in the crash but organisers said that all three riders managed to rejoin the race.

While Ricco has pointed to Di Luca as the man to beat this year, Pellizotti pulled on the pink jersey for the first time and will spend at least a day in the race lead during Monday's third stage, the last in Sicily, over 221km from Catania to Milazzo.

He also wants to win the pink jersey in Milan in three weeks time.

In the meantime Pellizotti said he's feeling no pressure, but admitted he was delighted to have ended his six-year bid to wear it.

"It's six years I've been racing the Giro, and curiously I've never managed to pull on the pink jersey. Now it's happened while I wasn't even expecting it."