Lampre-ISD's Alessandro Petacchi (L) of Italy sprints ahead of HTC-Highroad's Mark Cavendish of Britain to the 244km second stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race from Alba to Parma May 8, 2011. Cavendish took the leader's pink jersey.  [Photo/Agencies]

PARMA, Italy - Veteran Alessandro Petacchi of Italy took a controversial sprint victory in stage two of the Giro D'Italia on Sunday despite protests from British rival and new race leader Mark Cavendish.

Petacchi squeezed across the line barely a tyre's width ahead of Cavendish at the finish in Parma, with Italian Manuel Belletti in third.

Cavendish took the overall lead from his Italian team mate Marco Pinotti but he was visibly unhappy over what he felt was an application of double standards by race officials.

The British rider waved his arms and gesticulated as Petacchi claimed the 181st victory of his career.

"If I moved my line slightly during the sprint, it wasn't intentional and I didn't realise it," Petacchi told reporters.

"It wasn't too much of a shift of direction and I've got nothing to be sorry for.

"It was a straight sprint, something without any question or doubt.

"And for me, to still be winning Giro stages at 37 is something very important."

Stoney-faced

A stoney-faced Cavendish claimed the leader's jersey for the second time in three years and has a 12-second advantage over team mate Kanstantsin Sivtsov. American Craig Lewis is third.

"He (Petacchi) turned left and used tactics to block me," Cavendish said. "But that is what sprinting is all about.

"What gets to me is that every time I move my line a centimetre like he did I get disqualified.

"But that isn't Alessandro's fault, so for me to take my frustration with the (race) jury out on Alessandro would not be fair and I don't want to lodge a protest."

Cavendish was asked who was prejudiced against him.

"That's the price of success, they want to pull you down and I've got to deal with it.

"Would I have sprinted like Alessandro sprinted? In the past yes, but not now."

After nearly six hours in the saddle on a marathon 244 kilometre stage and a twisting, technical finish, favourite Alberto Contador of Spain said it had been a nervous day.

"The unusualy hot weather and the length of this stage made it difficult today," Contador told reporters.

"My objective was to get through unscathed and avoid crashes, and I managed to do both."

The Giro D'Italia finishes in Milan on May 29.