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.

And here is that sprint from Viviani... he really is head and shoulders above the rest.

Here's confirmation of today's top 10 after another ferocious sprint.

That was a textbook leadout from Quick-Step - although Viviani once again had to come back from distance. He and Modolo clashed shoulders as they fought for Bennett's wheel. Then the Irishman veered to the right, shutting the door on Viviani. They touched shoulders, Bennett re-opened the door, and Viviani didn't look back. Jakub Mareczko and Danny van Poppel completed the top five.

VICTORY FOR ELIA VIVIANI! The Italian has to check his speed but then kicks again and powers through to take a quite superb win ahead of Modolo, with Bennett swerving again to take third place.

Final corner... and Viviani is on Bennett's wheel... but the Irishman drives him right into the barriers!

Another roundabout and then the flamme rouge for the leaders - still Stybar drives the pace - but Viviani has dropped back behind Modolo now. Debuscherre of Lotto is there too.

It's the white jersey of Max Schachmann who combines with Stybar on the front for Quick-Step. Two other team-mates are behind with Viviani in their wheel.

Sam Bennett is coming up now with his Bora-Hansgrohe train. But it's Zdenek Stybar on the front still for Quick-Step.

Viviani is enjoying a free ride thanks to four Quick-Step team-mates.

More roundabouts - and the pack has really stretched out. Quick-Step and EF Education First control things on the front.

The remaining two escapees are caught ahead of a second roundabout.

Boivin and Frapporti dig deep but they know it will all be in vain. Behind, EF Education First come to the front - and they hit the first of those 11 roundabouts...

Enrico Barbin is the first of the escapees to be caught, his work for the day done after securing the maglia rosa for another couple of days.

Just 15 seconds now for the three leaders and it's fast, furious and frantic in the bunch. LottoNL-Jumbo, Sky and Quick-Step are all heavily present on the front - but Wilier-Triestina have vanished. Has Mareczko been dropped?

SPEED BUMPS! The leading trio grapple with some speed bumps as the road narrows. They get through ok, but this will disrupt the chasing peloton, which indeed stetches out and splits into numerous factions as riders bunny-hop the obstacles.

The gap is 35 seconds now - and more riders have been caught out by the pace. There's a group of four riders and another of six riders off the back. It will be interesting to see if any big names have missed the splits.

A fierce tailwind means the riders are making light work of these final kilometres - and there's an air of urgency in the peloton as the gap stays at 45 seconds with 15km remaining. The road is wide and the riders are in team formation. But when will they catch Boivin, Barbin and Frapporti? The pace is 71kmph!

The peloton has regrouped and the teams of the sprinters are preparing themselves for the ensuing battle. The three leaders pass through the 20-to-go banner with 55 seconds to play with.

Some images of the technical finish coming through from our colleagues on the ground. There's going to be chaos on this roundabout - surely some riders will try and simply ride over it and dodge the markers?

There are some splits in the peloton as the pace increases and the winds get stronger. The three leaders have 1'03" to play with and there are about four or five groups off the back...