Stefano Garzelli erased memories of his controversial ejection from last year’s Giro d’Italia in a dramatic gesture Monday over the oven-hot roads of southern Italy.

The 2000 Giro champion peeled away from peloton in the steep final 400 meters of the 145km third stage to grab the victory and vault into second place overall.

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi fought hard to retain the maglia rosa, but Garzelli’s win is a clear message that he’s a legitimate contender for the overall prize.

“It’s an important victory for me because after 11 months without competing it gives me confidence. 2002 was a difficult year for me and for my family,” Garzelli said. “I don’t know whether I will last the distance as I have just eight days racing in my legs. Now my morale is flying high and I can think of more stage wins.”

Garzelli was kicked out of last year’s Giro after failing a doping test for probenicid, a banned diuretic that he claims he never took. He served an 9-month racing ban and surprised many with a win at the Tour of Trentino last month.

“This victory means a lot to me after what happened last year,” said Garzelli, of the Vini Caldirola team. “This is not revenge, because for me it is a new start.”

The Giro started out looking like another cyclo-tour across Italy’s “toe,” rolling past olive groves and white-washed villages at a leisurely pace. There’s no blaming the peloton, with temperatures soaring into the 90s.

Things livened up on the Category 2 climb at Fagnano Castello at 100km into the stage. Italian Raffaele Illiano (Colombia-Selle Italia) tried in vain to slip away, but teammate Fredy Gonzalez zipped ahead of the leaders to grab the mountain points to retain his hold on the KOM jersey.

Aussie Robbie McEwen tried to get away on a twisting, spectacular up and down transition zone, but he couldn’t get more than 10 or 15 seconds off the front with 10km to go. McEwen was relegated after dangerous sprinting in Sunday’s second stage and seemed bent on getting away.

Fassa Bortolo moved to the front and drove the peloton home. With Aitor Gonzalez and Dario Cioni driving hard, they swept up McEwen with about 7km to go and pushed toward the climbing finish in Terme Luigiane.

... the peloton was close behind

Domina Vacanze – minus Mario Cipollini who was cooling his jets well off the back of the main bunch – forced the tempo over the final kilometer to set up Gabrielle Colombo, but he died 100 meters from the line.

Shooting out of the unorganized sprint to take a convincing win was Garzelli. He came across arms-wide-spread two seconds clear of second-place Francesco Casagrande (Lampre) and Petacchi, who took third to retain the overall lead.

Cipollini, meanwhile, remains winless while he tries to break the all-time Giro win record of 41 stage victories held by Alfredo Binda. Tuesday’s 170km stage from Acquappresa Marina to Vibo Valentia serves up a good parcours for the world champion.

Petacchi stays in maglia rosa

Photo: Graham Watson

The stage is flat in the opening 120km before a Cat. 3 climb to Cresta di Zungri at 135km. The final 8km are downhill and there’s a final right turn with 500 meters to go.

To follow events as they unfolded today just follow the link to bring up our live update window.

Stage 3 Photo Gallery