Buongiorno and welcome to live coverage of stage 1 - sorry, stage 4 - of the Giro d'Italia. After three days in Israel and one day flying the circus back into Europe, the 101st edition of La Corsa Rosa hits Italian soil with the first of three stages on the island of Sicily.

When the peloton comes into Vizzini Sacha Modolo has a mechanical issue when his bike tangles with a Wilier-Triestina rider. He doesn't come off, but has to stop and sort out his brake pads so that his wheel can turn freely. The peloton are still 2'30" down on the leaders - but expect that to come down fast now as the finish approaches and all the minor prizes are out of the way.

Enrico Barbin kicks clear and beats Marco Frapporti in the KOM sprint in front of hundreds of fans in the town square of Vizzini. That's another 3pts for the Bardiani-CSF rider who moves on to 11pts in the maglia azzurra standings, with Frapporti on 7pts.

We're approaching the hilltop town of Vizzini where the second of today's Cat.4 climbs is located.

We're approaching the business end of the stage... so, who are the riders to watch?

First real signs of Astana today as the Kazahk team edges up alongside UAE, Sunweb and BMC on the front of the pack. They'll have high hopes for their men Lopez, Lutsenko, Bilbao and Sanchez today - all of whom are capable of getting in the mix and winning on a 13% ramp like the one awaiting the riders at the finish.

And it's Mosca who takes the second intermediate sprint ahead of Frapporti and Belkov, who all cross the line a bit ahead of the remaining two riders from the break - Jauregui and Barbin - who opted not to contest that one.

Frapporti has his arms around Belkov and the pair are in discussion as the road sweeps down ahead of the intermediate sprint - perhaps they're plotting something?

The gap is 2'40" now for the five escapees as they approach the second intermediate sprint, which comes on a slightly downhill section after the climb to Monterosso Almo.

Talking of Sunweb, we spoke to Tom Dumoulin, the defending champion, this morning and quizzed him about the Sicilian triptych of stages. "All three are really hard. Today and tomorrow are like the Ardennes," he said, making air-speech marks around Ardennes, "and will be very tricky and then of course there's Etna on Thursday. Today it's important to stay safe but it's also an opportunity to take some time, maybe. So, now it's going to be GC stages which is a little bit different from last year. I expect a lot to happen in the coming three days."

The break edges through the town of Giarratana with a gap of 2'15" over the pack with fans aplenty lining the streets. The road rises gradually now to the second intermediate sprint. BMC are still leading the chase for their man in pink, Rohan Dennis, with Sunweb tucked in just behind.

Frenchman Thibaut Pinot may be struggling in the heat, too. He's currently off the back with one Groupama-FDJ team-mate - although perhaps after simply dropping back to take on some food and water from his team car. If that's the case, he doesn't look too happy about it. His face is glacial.

Two riders who have clearly been suffering a little in the heat and on these rolling roads are Jempy Drucker (BMC) and Jakub Mareczko (Wilier-Triestina). The former has been helping BMC do the tempo setting and it's clearly caught up with him - although he seems to be back on the front now alongside Fran Ventoso after pedalling squares ahead of the intermediate sprint. The latter is a flat-track sprinter who suffers whenever the road goes uphill, so it's no surprise seeing him surrounded by team-mates and off the back of the pack. Earlier, Joe Dombrowski (EF-Education First) looked to be struggling during that savage session by UAE.

When the peloton reaches the uphill ramp to the sprint there's a mass slowing down and some riders have to stop in their tracks because of weaving and dropped bidons / sunglasses and the like. It's all a bit messy but there's no serious damage done. The gap is still above the two-minute mark.

Frapporti dances clear to take the points after Mosca opened up the initial attack. Mosca settles for second place ahead of Belkov. That was a sprint merely for prestige and prize money: Frapporti may have 24pts in the ciclamino jersey standings but that's well adrift of the 130pts amassed so far by double stage winner Elia Viviani, who currently leads his nearest opponent (Sacha Modolo) by 75 points.

Down a short but steep descent go the five escapees before the road rises for this sprint. Barbin sets the tempo but surely he's going to let one of his companions take the spoils. There are points up for grabs in this sprint, then points AND bonus seconds in the second intermediate sprint. The sun still shines bright in a blue sky here in Sicily.

The calm after the storm. Riders are either rejoining the peloton or dropping back to pick up the lunch they missed out on earlier during that UAE blitz. The five leaders now have 2'28" to play with as they approach the first intermediate 'sprint' which actually comes on the top of a steep ramp. Classic Giro. Needless to say, we won't be seeing Elia Viviani contest this one...

That's it for now. Manuele Mori puts a hand to his ear and he's clearly been given the message to take a foot off the gas. UAE Team Emirates then ease up and drop back, allowing BMC back on the front as the break extends its gap above the two-minute mark. That was an intense half hour from Fabio Aru's team-mates - and they did a lot of damage. Exciting stuff. But for now, a pause in hostilitles.

Team Sky and BMC are tucked in behind the UAE Team Emirates train as the TV helicopter swings low to catch a good aerial view.

The five leaders are approaching the summit of the uncategorised Monte Pavone with a gap of 1'32". The pack has more or less regrouped after that flurry of activity at the hands of UAE Team Emirates - although there are still many riders still off the back. It will be a long second half of the stage for most of them.

It looks like one of the camera bikes has crashed - either that or the driver got cramp or a sting, because he's sitting by the side of the road receiving some attention. It doesn't look serious, thankfully. The leaders saw their gap come down to 30 seconds but it now seems to have grown out to 1'15" again. Perhaps UAE have taken their foot off the gas?

Could the feedzone save some of the riders? It remains to be seen if UAE push on through as the musettes are being dished out. One chasing group has rejoined the pack but there are still many riders off the back - and some will be very hungry if they miss out on their feed. Meanwhile, in the press buffet it's a whole different affair...