Hello and welcome to live coverage of the opening stage of the 2013 Giro d'Italia. The 96th edition of La Corsa Rosa starts with a short 130km stage in and around Naples, which should result in a bunch sprint.

General classification after bonus seconds: 1. Cavendish, 2. Viviani +8, 3. Bouhanni +12.

Result: 1. Cavendish, 2. Viviani, 3. Bouhanni, 4. Nizzolo, 5. Goss.

Mark Cavendish will be in pink after winning the opening stage and taking 12 bonus seconds.

Goss looked in control but the Australian tired and Cavendish zipped past Viviani to take the win, with Bouhanni on his wheel.

Cavendish comes from far to take the victory! He did it alone after that crash - but what a win for the Manxman.

Bouhanni is there too, but GreenEdge have the edge with three men. Cavendish is boxed in.

Cannondale and GreenEdge both have three riders on the front. Cavendish is in 8th position. Oh, crash! There's a split in the peloton - only 15 are out in front it seems. Carlos Betancur of Ag2R is one of those down.

Now it's Cannondale on the front for their man Viviani.

One GreenEdge rider pulls clear of the pack, but he's reeled in - and gets a pat from one of the Lampre riders. That may have been a case of over-eagerness more than any asserted effort to attack. After all, the Australian team want this one for Goss.

A Lampre rider is on the front, paving the way for Ferrari - the bete noir of Cavendish. It's rather nervous.

Now GreenEdge come to the front working for Matt Goss. OPQS have disappeared.

The pack cross the line for the last time before the big finale. The bell sounds for the last lap. It's about to get serious.

Mark Cavendish, who has a house in Italy, told Eurosport: "I've won before in the opening stage of the Giro and I'd like to win again today - especially here in Naples. It's a special race for me."

RadioShack's sprinter is the Italian youngster Giacomo Nizzolo after Daniele Bennati left to join Saxo Bank. Italy have a fair few promising sprinters who could cause an upset today: Modolo, Viviani, Fellini, Gavazzi, Sabatini and Ferrari to name but a handful. But are they good enough to beat Messrs Cavendish, Goss, Degenkolb and Bouhanni?

Two more laps to go for the riders in this opening stage of the Giro d'Italia. RadioShack have three men on the front now alongside Sky, Lampre and OPQS. Argos are keeping their wick dry after some early pace setting for John Degenkolb.

Remember, there are time bonuses of 20, 12 and 8 seconds tonight for the top three - so whoever wins the stage will be in the maglia rosa tonight.

Cameron Wurf has been caught. Still Team Sky and OPQS front the peloton, split by a pink and blue line of Lampre-Merida riders.

Sky, Lampre and OPQS are all close to the front as Wurf crosses the line again. Three more laps to go. The lead is down to 21 seconds - and it's an intermediate sprint here, which sees the points picked up by riders from Vacansoleil and RadioShack, with Mark Cavendish taking fourth as a precaution.

Water stop for many riders, who take on bidons from the side of the road. Will probably be the last time they take on liquids before the finish. Johan Le Bon of FDJ rides into the curb and goes down with an Euskaltel rider, Miguel Minguez I think, but it's nothing serious.

The Omega Pharma rider who went down was Jerome Pineau - but he's back on his bike now. Wurf is now within 24 seconds of the peloton.