Elia Viviani wins for Sky as Michael Matthews takes pink

Viviani, who joined Team Sky from Cannondale in the off-season, secured the biggest win of his career after edging Dutchman Moreno Hofland (LottoNL-Jumbo) by half a wheel in a chaotic bunch after two laps of the city centre.

German national champion Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) led out the sprint but faded in the closing moments to take third place ahead of Slovenia's Luka Mezgec (Giant-Alpecin) and Italian veteran Alessandro Petacchi (Southeast Pro Cycling).

Matthews could only finish in seventh place but moved into the race lead at the expense of Orica-GreenEdge team-mate Simon Gerrans.

A succession of crashes inside the final 20 kilometres made for a nervous finish and saw a raft of riders distanced, including Italian climber Domenico Pozzovivo of Ag2R-La Mondiale.

Australian national champion Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) hit the deck twice while Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep) – runner-up for the past two years – lost his key mountain lieutenant Pieter Serry to a suspected broken collarbone.

Riding his third Giro – and his first for Team Sky – 26-year-old Viviani said it was "incredible” to finally win a stage in his home Tour.

"This year with a new team I have found new motivation,” said Viviani, who also picked up the race’s first red points jersey.

"We’re here for the general classification with Richie Porte but today the guys managed to protect Richie but also they worked for me. Salvatore Puccio led me into the last corner brilliantly and I had enough for the sprint.”

Former track rider Viviani held the back wheel of in-form Hofland, who surged past Greipel after the experienced German went early. Hofland, a stage winner in last week’s Tour de Yorkshire, looked set for his own maiden Grand Tour stage win – but he came undone after Viviani had the strongest kick in the closing 50 metres.

With the sun shining bright in a deep blue sky, the first road stage of the 98th edition of the Giro was animated by an early break by five riders as the route headed inland from the coastal town of Albenga.

With just four kilometres of the 177km route completed, Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Eugert Zhupa (Southeast), Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Lukasz Owsian (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) and Marco Frapporti (Bardiani CSF) combined to create the day’s main break.

The escapees built up a maximum lead of over nine minutes as they crested the uncategorised climb to Testico before heading back to the Lugurian coast. Frapporti – the only rider in the break with any previous Giro pedigree – used his experience to pick up maximum points at both intermediate sprints at Savona and Varazze.

But he 30-year-old came unstuck on the only categorised climb of the day after dropping his chain at a critical moment just ahead of the summit. Dutchman Lindeman took advantage to outsprint Owsian for maximum points over the Cat.4 peak to pick up the first blue mountains jersey of the race.

Back in the peloton it was the Tinkoff-Saxo team-mates of race favourite Alberto Contador who upped the tempo on the climb to slash the deficit to four minutes going over the top.

With Genoa getting closer – and some strong winds coming off the sea to combine with the fierce sun – the tension rose in the peloton as numerous incidents caused a number of splits.

A crash involving IAM Cycling sprinters Haussler and Matteo Pelucchi caught out a dozen riders before Movistar’s Dayer Quintana – brother of absent defending champion Nairo – hit the deck hard on the first of two 9.5km finishing circuits.

Moments after he had fought back to the pack, Haussler crashed again in a second mass incident which held up Pozzovivo and a raft of riders 12km from the finish, shortly after Owsain became the last of the escapees to be swept up.

Winners in Saturday’s opening team time trial at San Remo, Orica-GreenEdge had power in numbers entering the final kilometre – but it was Greipel who made the first move with an early attack.

Viviani was following the right wheel, however. Latching onto Hofland’s counter-surge, the Italian was able to summon enough power in his legs to write his name into the history books.

By virtue of finishing above team-mate Gerrans, Matthews took the pink jersey for the second time in successive years. He is tied for time with Gerrans and fellow GreenEdge riders Simon Clarke and Esteban Chaves at the top of the standings, with Roman Kreuziger leading a cluster of Tinkoff-Saxo riders – including Contador – seven seconds in arrears.

Pozzovivo crossed the line 1:09 down on Viviani in a group that also included Polish riders Slywester Szmyd (CCC Spandi-Polkowice) and Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida), and Colombian Darwin Atapuma (BMC).

Monday’s short but sharp 136km stage three from Rapello enters the mountains with two categorised climbs and an undulating profile ahead of a flat finish in Sestri Levante.