Elia Viviani Wins Two Stages of the Giro d'Italia

BMC's Rohan Dennis Spends a Second day in the Magila Rosa

The Italian rider won his second consecutive bunch sprint ahead of Modolo and Bennett on Stage 3 in Israel.

The Italian rider Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) won in a bunch sprint Stage 3 of the 101st Giro d'Italia, Be'er Sheva-Eilat of 229km to take his second consecutive stage victory. Sacha Modolo (Team EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale) and Sam Bennett (Bora - Hansgrohe) finished second and third respectively.

Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) remains the race General Classification leader, wearing the Maglia Rosa.

Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Viviani said: “In the first two hours of racing I felt very bad. The pressure was off after yesterday's win. But I felt better later on. I have competed in the classics so I was ready for 230km today. We followed our plan. We only missed Sabatini because he had a flat tyre. But the final straight was good for me.”

The race leader Dennis said: “It feels good to retain the Maglia Rosa. It's been a stressful day though. In the end, it's been a maximum effort to stay out of trouble and away from the splits. Campenaerts paid the price for his efforts to take the jersey but he did well. In Sicily, I'll take it day by day and try to stay in pink as long as possible.”

A three-man breakaway escaped relatively early into the 229km stage and built up an ample gap of more than 6 minutes. The breakaway of the day was gone for most of the stage, with 80km to go, the group enjoyed still a gap of more than three minutes. With the gap dropping steadily, the three escapes were caught with 5km remaining and the expected bunch sprint was set up.

Tomorrow is a rest day as the peloton moves to the Island of Sicily for 3 stages before returning to mainland Italy.

VIDEO: 2018 Giro d'Italia Stage 3 Highlights

2018 Giro d'Italia Stage 3 Top 10

1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 5:02:09 
2 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale   
3 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe   
4 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia   
5 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo   
6 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Fix All   
7 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec   
8 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin   
9 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo   
10 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin

General Classification after Stage 3

1 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 9:05:30 
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:01 
3 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:13 
4 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:17 
5 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:19 
6 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:21 
7 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:22 
8 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:28 
9 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida   
10 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:29