Robbie McEwen rebounded from being disqualified as a stage winner on Sunday to win the 170km fourth stage of the Tour of Italy.

Italy's Alessandro Petacchi retained the overall leader's pink jersey after finishing second behind the 30-year-old Australian, who ended the hosts monopoly on stage wins so far.

"This is not revenge for Sunday's disqualification," McEwen said.

"It is instead a much-needed victory for the team (Lotto) after Rik Verbrugghe's fall on Monday and what happened to me on Sunday we really were in need of a good news story.

"Hopefully this is the turning point as there are five stages in the next nine days where I think I can win.

"I haven't really been in a great frame of mind since the start of the race as I arrived late having missed my plane," he said.

McEwen fought back to overhaul Petacchi in the final sprint as the overall leader held the lead with 100m to go and the Aussie burst past to record his third career stage win in the race.

McEwen had been disqualified on Sunday when it was judged that he had jostled Fabio Baldato in the final sprint.

McEwen's joy was in sharp contrast to that of Italian cycling great Mario Cipollini, who was dropped from the peloton and trailed in over a minute behind the winner.

"The stage was tougher than we thought it would be," the world road race champion said.

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