Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia - a long 229km schlep through the Israeli desert from Be'er Sheva to the Red Sea resort of Eilat. It's going to be hot, dusty and (dare we say it?) a little dull... until the dig-dong bunch sprint we'll probably witness at the end.

A rider who should put up a fight in today's likely bunch sprint finale is Jakub Mareczko. Second yesterday, the prolific Italian has yet to win a stage on the Giro - in fact, he's never won a stage in a major European race in his life - but he has the speed to cause Viviani some bother. Indeed, Viviani arguably only won yesterday because he spotted Mareczko's acceleration and followed the right wheel. The 24-year-old was second behind Viviani's now team-mate Fernando Gaviria in last year's Giro - and this year he has a committed Wilier-Triestina team behind him. Surely it's only a matter of time - particularly in a race with such a diminished sprint field.

There's another uphill drag out of the Ramon Crater before the road drops down twice - with a plateau in between - ahead of the Cat.4 climb on today's menu. The three leaders - Marco Frapporti, Guillaume Boivin and Enrico Barbin - have 4'50" over the peloton, which is still being controlled by the BMC team-mates of maglia rosa Rohan Dennis.

Confirmation that Elia Viviani is now up to 80pts in the ciclamino standings with his nearest rival now that man Guillaume Boivin, one of the three escapees, who moves up to 48pts.

The gap extends as the leading trio speed up on this long twisting descent ahead of the only categorised climb of the day. Pretty spectacular, I'm sure you'll agree.

Quick-Step once again lead out their man Viviani for the intermediate sprint - and the Italian is pushed all the way by Ryan Gibbons of Dimension Data, who has had a quiet Giro so far. Canny tactics from Quick-Step who also have another rider mopping up points ahead of Sacha Modolo to further consolidate Viviani's lead in the ciclamino jersey competition.

And Boivin makes it two from two: the Canadian zips clear of his fellow escapees to win the second intermediate sprint at Mitzpe Ramon with ease and give his Israeli Cycling Academy something to shout about on home sand.

Viviani already has a solid lead in the points classification after his haul from yesterday. The Italian went into today's stage with 68pts with his nearest opponent Jakub Mareczko on 35pts. Viviani added two more at the first intermediate sprint, which was won by Guillaume Boivin who himself is now on 18pts. The next sprint is coming right up.

Elia Viviani and a few other riders have formed a small gruppetto off the back of the peloton - they must have stopped to answer a collective call of nature. The gap for the three escapees is back up to four minutes on these rolling roads. The rode gradually rises before the second intermediate sprint, which is coming up shortly. Boivin won the first one so expect him to do the same again.

Astana's Miguel Angel 'Superman' Lopez leading the way on a slight uphill rise...

The gap is down to 3'30" for the three leaders, who attacked from the outset and at one point had over seven minutes on the peloton. BMC lead the chase on the front of the pack with the Bahrain Merida team of Domenico Pozzovivo just behind.

It's the gift that keeps on giving...

Couldn't resist going through the feed and finding this from earlier...

This is why there are those camel signs, I guess...

A great picture from earlier in the stage. We have indeed seen some camels today - a first for the Giro d'Italia? A first for a Grand Tour? Probably.

Guillaume Boivin (Israeli Cycling Academy) dances clear to take maximum points at the intermediate sprint at Sde Boker. When the peloton arrives four and a half minutes later it's Elia Viviani who shuts the door on Sacha Modolo to take the maximum remaining points and consolidate his lead in the ciclamino jersey competition.

Oh, and he final word on Rohan Dennis - for now - comes from the man himself, who we interviewed ahead of today's stage.

Our friends at GCN are doing a daily 15-minute Giro highlights and analysis programme - and yesterday Simon Richardson had the effortlessly cool EF Education First sporting director Tom Southam in the studio to discuss Elia Viviani's win. You can watch it here below.

Wonder if we'll see these guys today... There was a chap in a pink dress on his bike on the outskirts of Be'er Sheva, but since we've entered desert territory, the spectators are few and far between.

On Dennis, it's worth adding that his canny move to snatch the maglia rosa was a great bit of racing yesterday - and saw the 27-year-old enter the history books. Dennis becomes only the fourth active rider to wear the leader’s jersey of each of cycling’s Grand Tours – after Britain’s Mark Cavendish and Italians Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali – and the 23rd rider in history to have led the Giro, Tour de France and La Vuelta at some stage in their career. A big achievement.