Bennati finished the 221-kilometer leg from Catania to Milazzo in an unofficial time of 5 hours, 37 minutes, 1 second. Erik Zabel finished second, followed by Danilo Hondo.
Aritz Aranburu, who is back into competition after his injury at the Quilsilver Pro Gold Coast, will face against Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Damien Hobgood (USA) in heat 6.
Ricco beat compatriots Danilo Di Luca and Davide Rebellin. Franco Pellizotti of the Liquigas team finished fourth and is the new race leader according to provisional results.
Kimi Raikkonen saw his overall lead trimmed to seven points from nine after finishing a close third. The Finn, the only driver to score points in every race this season, now has 35 to Massa and Hamilton's 28.
Aritz Aranburu, who is back into competition after his injury at the Quilsilver Pro Gold Coast, will face against Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Damien Hobgood (USA) in heat 6.
American Vandevelde was the first Slipstream rider to cross the finish line. The team set a time of 26 minutes 32 seconds for the 23.6-km course around Palermo.
Brazilian Massa, who has won at the Istanbul Park circuit for the past two years, will have McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen alongside him on the front row in Sunday's race.
Mount Makalu was Oiarzabal's twenty-second eight-thousander, breaking his own world record for the highest number of summit ascents to mountains of altitude greater than 8,000 meters.
