Since American Christian Vande Velde of Slipstream-Chipotle claimed the maglia rosa in Stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia, it’s been all Italians in the country’s grand tour.

Well, all Italians and crashes …

Daniele Bennati won Stage 3, a 221km ride from Catania to Milazzo, and Liquigas teammate Franco Pellizotti retained the leader’s pink jersey.

Liquigas is an Italian team, with U.S. connections. The team rides Cannondale bicycles that are made in Pennsylvania.

As for the crashes … Slipstream-Chipotle has been hard hit since rocking in the Stage 1 Team Time Trial. American David Zabriskie went down hard in Stage 2 on Sunday and suffered a broken L1 vertebrae.

On Monday, Slipstream’s Magnus Backstedt and David Millar also crashed but were able to continue. Others who hit the road Monday included: Stage 2 winner Riccardo Riccò of Saunier Duval-Scott, Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish of High Road and Bradley McGee of CSC. McGee is out of the race with a shoulder injury.