Travis McCabe won stage three of the Herald Sun Tour - but the day was marred by a huge crash near the finish.

Colombian star Esteban Chaves was one of those who went down heavily about 2km from the finish at Michelton Winery, although his Orica-Scott team later confirmed he was not injured in the fall.

Team Sky's sprinter Danny van Poppel also went tumbling in the carnage, as the final stages descended into chaos. American McCabe picked his way through the trouble to beat Australia's Mitch Docker to the line, with Leigh Howard taking third.

 

Overall Herald Sun Tour leader, Adelaide's Damien Howson, managed to stay upright and crossed the line safely to retain his yellow jersey ahead of Sunday's final stage in Kinglake. And since the crash happened inside the final 3km, all riders were given the same time as the winner, leaving the general classification standings unchanged.

Earlier in the stage, Pavel Brutt put himself in the virtual lead of the race after making a long break with eight other riders. As their advantage grew to more than four minutes over the peloton, Brutt was in contention to overhaul Howson in the standings.

But the chasing pack then stepped up the pace and the breakaway was hauled in inside the final 10km to seemingly set up an exciting sprint finish. However, the terrible crash just 2,000m from the line disrupted everyone's plans, leaving McCabe able to snatch an unlikely win.