Italy's Daniele Bennati pippped Briton Mark Cavendish to the line in a photo finish to win stage 12 of the Giro D'Italia.

The Liquigas rider claims his third sprint victory of this year's Tour of Italy, adding to wins in stage three and stage nine.

Rain again played havoc on road conditions as a handful of riders, including stage six winner Matteo Priamo, suffered a crash about 15 kilometres from the finish line.

The sprinter teams reeled in a day-long solo break-away by Dionisio Galparsoro with 10 kilometres left in the 172-km stage from Forli to Carpi to set up the exciting finale.

Cavendish's High Road team-mates took a commanding position at the front of the peloton, but Australian Robbie McEwen was able to gain an early edge after the sprint was launched early.

Bennati easily passed the Silence-Lotto sprinter on the right, however, while a last gasp effort from Manchester's Cavendish saw him overtake McEwen and nearly overcome the Italian.

After race officials examined the race footage they declared Bennati the stage victor by the slimmest of possible margins.

Spanish Euskaltel rider Koldo Fernandez took fourth in the sprint, while world champion Paolo Bettini finished fifth.

Bettini's Italian compatriot and Quick Step team-mate Giovanni Visconti retained his overall lead by finishing in the main bunch.

Follow LIVE coverage of the Tour of Italy on British Eurosport and Eurosport.yahoo.com.

British Eurosport is available in the UK on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521, Eurosport 2 is on Sky channel 411 and Virgin Media channel 525.

Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport