Australia's Robbie McEwen of the Lotto team won the 11th stage of the Tour of Italy cycling race in a chaotic final sprint in San Dona Di Piave.

Italy's Mario Cipollini, winner of a record 42 stages in this event, fell on the final bend along with several other riders.

Rain had made the surface slippery and Spain's Isaac Galvez fell with about 160 metres to the line and brought down world road race champion Cipollini.

Cipollini slid several metres and careered into a safety barrier before getting quickly to his feet and finished the stage.

He was later taken to hospital and had x-rays for suspected rib injuries.

Seconds later, 30-year-old McEwen won the stage with a two second gap from Italians Alessandro Petacchi and Crescenzo D'Amore after the 226km stretch under heavy rain in the latter stages.

Russian Sergei Lelekin and Italy's Mirko Marini, both of the modest Tenax team, had a long breakaway together and were almost 14 minutes ahead at one stage but were caught by the main bunch 25km from the line.

In the overall standings, Italy's Gilberto Simoni retained his two second advantage over compatriot Stefano Garzelli.

Garzelli's teammate, Italy's Oscar Mason, retired after a bad fall about 40km from the finish line.

It was McEwen's second win of the event, having already claimed the fourth stage.

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