VIDEO: Crash that ended Mark Cavendish and others hopes of stage win at the Giro d'Italia

With just over 3km to go on stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia, the race was brought into chaos by a major crash that saw the stage win hopes of many, most notably Mark Cavendish, brought to an end.

As the road narrowed and tension began to raise in the peloton, something had to give. Sadly for the likes of Cavendish, Martijn Tusveld and Daan Hoole among many others, a brutal crash was what broke the tension of the race.

It wasn't just the fast men with hopes of victory that were affected either as because the crash happened just a few hundred metres before the 3km to go banner, time gaps for any and all general classification riders caught up in the melee provided extra chaos to the final run-in. Most notable of the riders to lose time in the GC was Tao Geoghegan Hart although his teammate Geraint Thomas crossed safely in the front bunch alongside race leader Remco Evenepoel.

The stage was eventually won by Bahrain - Victorious's Jonathan Milan. Watch the video below though to see the chaos unfold in the kilometres before the final sprint.