Manx Mark Cavendish marked his return to the Giro d'Italia by winning a bunch sprint at the end of the third stage on Sunday while Mathieu van der Poel kept the leader's pink jersey.

Cavendish, who rides for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, raised his arms over his head and beamed broadly after crossing the line just ahead of Arnaud Demare and Fernando Gaviria.

It was a 16th stage win in the Giro for the 36-year-old Cavendish, who hasn't competed in the Italian race in nine years and his first stage at the Giro d'Italia back in 2008.

"I'm very happy thank you.It was really nice. I wanted to get good in this first sprint, and we did and I am very happy." said Cavendish.

It was also the 53rd win in the three grand tours for the sprint superstar from the Isle of Man, inching him closer to Mario Cipollini, who is second in the table of stage winners on 57; Eddy Merckx won 64 stages.

The 36-year-old outpaced his rivals to cross the line first in the 201-kilometre (125-mile) route along Lake Balaton from Kaposvar to Balatonfured, the last of the three stages in Hungary.

Dutch cyclist Van der Poel remained 11 seconds ahead of Simon Yates and 16 ahead of 2017 Giro winner Tom Dumoulin.

The race has its first rest day on Monday as the riders transfer to the Italian island of Sicily. The riders will face their first serious test as Stage 4 culminates in a category-one climb up Mount Etna after a 172-kilometer (107-mile) route from Avola.

(With input from AP)