Buongiorno e benvenuto to live coverage of the 101st edition of the Giro d'Italia which kicks off in Jerusalem with a 9.7km individual time trial ahead of two road stages around Israel over the weekend. It's an unprecedented and controversial grande partenza - the first time a Grand Tour has started outside Europe - but there we go, that's cycling.

Giro d'Italia

Stage 1 | Flat | Men | 04.05.2018

Completed

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Live Updates

ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 04/05/2018 at 14:01 GMT

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Highlights

15:01

An imperious effort from the Team Sunweb rider who has a huge 37-second advantage over his big rival Chris Froome after less than 10km of this race. Here's the full top 10. Note Tony Martin sneaking into ninth - one of three Katusha riders in the top 10.

14:58

VICTORY FOR TOM DUMOULIN! The Dutchman crosses the line two seconds quicker than Rohan Dennis - and the defending champion will pick up where he left off: in pink.

14:56

By the way, here's footage of Chris Froome's training crash - probably the reason why he tanked his ITT so badly today.

14:55

Dumoulin's attention to detail is wonderful. That's the most aero number we've seen on a skinsuit perhaps ever.

14:54

Chris Froome is a huge 35 seconds down on Dennis and Campenaerts at the finish. A terrible start for the Team Sky rider.

14:53

Formolo is 38 seconds down at the finish.

14:52

Tom Dumoulin comes through the intermediate in first place on level time with Schachmann. So he has four seconds on his rival Dennis. Froome is 19 seconds down on the Dutchman.

14:50

Esteban Chaves is 44 seconds down at the finish in 31st place. Not an ideal start for the Colombian. He'll be down on his Mitchelton-Scott team-mate Simon Yates from the get-go.

14:49

It's worth adding that Campenaerts had the second best time at the intermediate check - three seconds down on Schachmann and one second quicker than both Goncalves and Dennis.

14:45

Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) is the last rider to start today. The defending champion - in his world champion's rainbow skinsuit - gets his race under way. 12 minutes of pure pain ahead...

14:45

Fabio Aru finishes 48 seconds down... Not a stellar performance from the Italian.

14:45

Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) is on course. He's the penultimate rider to start today - and can he roll back the years and pull off another big ITT win? Just Dumoulin to go now...

14:44

What a ride from Campenaerts! The Belgian is tied for Rohan Dennis at the finish after coming home in 12:04 and catching his minute-man Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac) right on the line.

14:42

Chris Froome (Team Sky) comes off the ramp and gets his race under way. How will that crash this morning in training affect him? Time will tell - and very soon, too.

14:41

Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe) up next and he's been tipped for a very promising future. He was 10th in last year's Giro and ninth in the 2016 Vuelta. But he's not the best rider against the clock.

14:40

Aru is 24 seconds down at the intermediate check, which is worrying for the Italian. Meanwhile, Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) rolls down the ramp. He's a bit bandaged up after his crash in training so it will be interesting to see how he goes.

14:36

After his titanic opening half Max Schachmann sinks like the, er, Titanic on the approach. That's a bit harsh: it's still a very good time. But he was four seconds up on Dennis at 5km and ends 14 seconds down in third place. Domenico Pozzovivo then passes through 25 seconds down - so he's quicker than Pinot but slower than Yates.

14:35

Alex Dowsett is good for second place, 14 seconds down on Dennis at the finish and four seconds behind his Katusha team-mate Goncalves.

14:33

Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) has started his ITT. He needs to limit his losses today. He's finished third and second in the Giro, but last year had to withdraw because of a crash in training. Heartbreak with the race starting in his native Sardinia...

14:32

Hello... this is interesting: Max Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) goes through the intermediate check four seconds quicker than Dennis and Goncalves. The gauntlet has been laid down.

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