Benvenuti! Welcome to the 2017 Giro d'Italia! It's the 100th running of this great race, and it promises to be a cracker. We start in Sardinia, with the opening day taking us from Alghero to Olbia in the north of the island. I'm Alex Chick - Felix 'Blazin Saddles' Lowe will be taking over tomorrow, let's hope for an eventful opener in the meantime.

Giro d'Italia

Stage 1 | Flat | Men | 05.05.2017

Completed

AlgheroOlbia

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ByAlex Chick

Updated 05/05/2017 at 15:52 GMT

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Highlights

And here's that finish - what a moment for Lukas Postlberger! Thanks for joining me today - Felix Lowe will be with you tomorrow as the Giro continues. If you missed the stage live check out tonight's highlights on Eurosport and Quest, and we'll see you tomorrow.

Caleb Ewan and Andre Greipel took second and third in the end and Geraint Thomas was safe in the leading group as well, but the teams were disorganised and didn't react to Postlberger's attack inside the final kilometre. What a bizarre finish.

Well, we certainly didn't predict that, and Lukas Postlberger's Bora-Hansgrohe team look as surprised as everyone else!

0km

What an attack! Lukas Postlberger attacks in the final km and he won't be caught! Incredible, the peloton caught cold and the Austrian soloes over the line! What a moment for him on his Giro debut!

1km

Under the flamme rouge and over a bridge... Caleb Ewan is decently placed ahead of the final assault.

3km

Hold up! Riders are stopped just outside the 3km to go mark. What's going on there? These time gaps will count! BMC's Sylvain Dillier is holding a bit of his bike and looking around for help - we didn't see the incident.

4km

That's that for the break, but a fine day for Cesare Benedetti in particular.

5km

5k to go and they swoop downhill into the town... the break will be caught at the bottom and things could get a bit hairy as there's a roundabout down there.

7km

The riders are about to go under a motorway bridge and into Olbia... Bahrain-Merida at the front of the peloton, protecting Vincenzo Nibali.

11km

The peloton and the breakaway are now just about in the same helicopter shot... the bunch should have plenty of energy after a lethargic day so we might be in for an explosive sprint finish.

13km

16km

Everything seems to be set for a sprint finish - my money's on Andre Greipel...

21km

Cesare Benedetti claims the third and final climb of the day - he's swept the board today and will take the Maglia Azzurra. Well played him, his work is done and the peleton are not far away from reaching the escape.

22km

A tribute to Michele Scarponi on the way up the final climb.

Image credit: Eurosport

25km

The skies in northern Sardinia have started to cloud over as we enter the final 25km heading towards Olbia. The breakaway has been trimmed back to 1'16" as the leaders head up the day's final climb.

32km

Intermediate sprint time, and this time there's no denying Daniel Teklehaimanot who picks up three bonus seconds. He's had a good day.

36km

Here's what we have coming up, ridden (on both sides of the road!) by Juan Antonio Flecha.

Juan Antonio Flecha rides the finish of stage 1

41km

The break remains 2'13" clear - that's 1.6km on the road. The gap is pretty much stable but you'd imagine the peloton will still reel them in without too much trouble.

45km

Fabio Aru might not be here, but his fan club are out in force!

51km

Just over 50km to run - the average speed has been a leisurely 38.337km/h, and it could be nearly 17:00 UK time by the time all this is said and done.

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