In a battle of sprinters for American-based teams, Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Slipstream surged past Mark Cavendish of Columbia-High Road on Friday at the finishing line to win the third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

Cavendish, who won three estages at the 2008 Tour of Missouri, seems unbeatable when he’s in the lead near the finishing line, but this time, Farrar came off his back wheel and zipped ahead of him at the line, according to velonews.com’s report.

The victory was the first in a major international race for Farrar, 24, who has been close-but-no-cigar over against the big boys in the past couple of years. Beating Cavendish, and coming from behind to do it, is a major breakthrough. Cavs’ palmares include four stage wins in the Tour de France, three more in Missouri and two this year in the Amgen Tour of California, along with the AToC’s green sprinter’s jersey.

In addition to Cavendish, Farrar outsprinted two heavyhitters in former TdF green jersey winners Robbie McEwen of Katusha and Big Tom Boonen of the Quick Step boys.

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