EILAT: Elia Viviani, of Quick-Step Floors, sealed his second consecutive Giro d’Italia win as the Italian was the fastest in a bunch sprint finish in the third stage on Sunday.

Viviani finished the lengthy 229-kilometre route through Israel’s Negev desert to its southern tip of Eilat along the Red Sea in just over five hours for his second stage victory in as many days.

Sam Bennett, of Bora-Hansgrohe, was in the lead with a kilometre to go but Viviani showcased his impressive power once again to close in on the Irishman before the final corner and crossed the finish line first.

Viviani, who won the second stage after a similar comeback on Saturday, finished ahead of Sacha Modolo (Cannondale-Drapac) and Bennett had to settle for third.

Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) and Danny van Poppel (Lotto NL - Jumbo) rounded out the top five.

Israel Cycling Academy’s Guillaume Boivin was cheered on by the home crowd as the Canadian, along with Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Enrico Barbin (Bardiani-CSF), led the race from the start.

The trio were swept up by the peloton in the closing stages and finished well behind the top 10 in the last stage to be held in Israel.

Australian Rohan Dennis kept the pink jersey that he wrestled away from defending champion Tom Dumoulin on Saturday.

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Fro­ome finished safely in the middle of the pack.

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

The route was the second-longest of the 21-stage race and wrapped up the three-day start in Israel, the first time a cycling Grand Tour has been held outside Europe.

The race will now transfer to Italy, and the island of Sicily, for an early rest day on Monday.

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.

The Giro ends in Rome on May 27.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2018