Mark Cavendish crashes in Francisco Ventoso Giro d'Italia win

Spanish rider Francisco Ventoso won the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia, while Team Sky's Mark Cavendish crashed 400m from the finish.

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“Well, another sprint chance gone due to a crash in last 400m. Got to the point of just shrugging my shoulders now. Team Sky were great today...”

Mark Cavendish on Twitter

Ventoso, who rides for Movistar, won in three hours, 39 minutes and 15 seconds over the 173km route, though Ryder Hesjedal retained the overall lead.

Cavendish, who had a similar accident on the third stage, was not badly hurt.

"He didn't crash hard himself luckily but it's a real shame," Team Sky's sports director Steve de Jongh.

"He's absolutely fine, though, and it didn't cause him any trouble from an injury point of view."

The 10th stage, 186km from Civitavecchia to Assisi, is on Tuesday.

Ventoso finds himself 101st in the classifications, 34 minutes and 20 seconds behind Hesjedal. The Canadian, who rides with Garmin-Barracuda, held on to the overall lead for a third day.

Cavendish finds himself in 165th place in the Giro d'Italia standings,  more than an hour behind the leader.

Overall standings

1. Ryder Hesjedal (Can, Garmin-Barracuda) 36 hours, 2 minutes, 40 seconds.

2. Joaquin Rodriguez, (Esp, Katusha) at 9 secs

3. Paolo Tiralongo (Ita, Astana) at 15 secs

4. Roman Kreuziger, (Cze, Astana) at 35 secs

5. Benet Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa, Movistar) at 26 secs.

Selected others:

9. Frank Schleck (Lux, RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) at 48 seconds

11. Rigoberto Uran (Col, Team Sky) at 53 seconds

14. Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col, Team Sky) at 1 minute 10 seconds

118. Geraint Thomas (Gbr, Team Sky) at 46 minutes 17 seconds

120. Peter Kennaugh (Gbr, Team Sky) 47 minutes, 2 seconds