Elia Viviani wins second Giro stage in a row

Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) made it a double delight in Israel on Sunday as he won his second Giro d’Italia stage in a row in a bunch sprint finish at Eilat.

The Italian survived a near-brush with the safety barriers on the side of the road as he sprinted to the stage three finish in the Red Sea resort, edging out compatriot Sacha Modolo with Sam Bennett third.

Viviani was perfectly placed on Bennett’s back wheel as the sprinters launched their charge to the line but just as he tried to dart out from behind the Irishman, Bennett lurched across the road. He went from the far left to the far right, almost barging Viviani into the barriers.

But the experienced Italian kept his cool and leant his shoulder into Bennett, who veered back to the left, leaving a channel for Viviani to burst through and win.

“I won and so don’t want to start a polemic. He moved big time. We made contact but I went through,” he said. “He went on the left and so I went on the right but then he moved across the road.”

Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin both enjoyed an uneventful day riding safely in the peloton to finish in the same time as the winner.

Dumoulin remains in second, one second behind Rohan Dennis with Jose Goncalves up to third at 13sec after Victor Campenaerts lost time at the finish.

“It was a very long day and a little stressful with the wind,” said Dennis.

Froome remains in the top 20 with a 38sec deficit to Dennis ahead of Monday’s rest day before the fourth stage begins in Catania following the transfer from Israel to Sicily.

After three days racing in Sicily, the Giro will move onto the Italian mainland, although not before the overall contenders have had a chance to test themselves on a summit finish at Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in western Europe.

Giro d’Italia 2018 – stage 3 results (Be’er Sheva – Eilat):

General classification after stage 3: