Elia Viviani wins stage three of the Giro d'Italia

Elia Viviani made it back-to-back stage wins at the 101st Giro d'Italia by winning Sunday's third stage in a sprint finish - Rohan Dennis retained the leaders' pink jersey.

Viviani stormed to stage two on Saturday in Tel-Aviv and added another stage victory by coming out on top of the lengthy 229km route through Israel's Negev desert to its southern tip of Eilat along the Red Sea.

Viviani came home in just over five hours, surviving a close shave with the safety barriers on the side of the road as he sprinted to the finish, edging out compatriot Sacha Modolo with Irishman Sam Bennett third.

Australian Dennis kept the pink jersey he wrestled away from defending champion Tom Dumoulin on Saturday and four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome finished safely in the middle of the pack, riding safely in the peloton to finish in the same time as the winner.

The route was the second longest of the 21-stage race and wrapped up the three-day start in Israel, the first time a cycling Grand Tour has been held outside Europe.

The race will now transfer to Italy, and the island of Sicily, for an early rest day on Monday and Viviani can bask in the glory of his double delight.

The Italian was perfectly placed on Bennett's back wheel as the sprinters launched their charge to the line but just as he tried to dart out from behind the Irishman, Bennett lurched across the road from the far left to the far right, almost barging Viviani into the barriers.

The 29-year-old Viviani kept his cool and leant his shoulder into Bennett, who veered back to the left, leaving a channel for Viviani to burst through and win.

"I won and so don't want to start a polemic. He moved big time. We made contact but I went through," he said.

"He went on the left and so I went on the right but then he moved across the road."

Race favourite Froome remains in the top 20 with a 38-second deficit to Dennis. Dumoulin remains in second place, one second behind Dennis with Portugal's Jose Goncalves up to third at 13sec after Belgian Victor Campenaerts lost time at the finish.

Stage 3 Result (Be'er Sheva - Eilat, 229 km)

1. Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 5hrs 2mins 09secs

2. Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale

3. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe

4. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia

5. Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

6. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal

7. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec

8. Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin

9. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo

10. Jose Goncalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin

General Classification (after stage 3)

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 9hrs 05mins 30secs

2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb at 1s

3. Jose Goncalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin at 13s

4. Alex Dowsett (GB) Katusha-Alpecin at 17s

5. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team at 19s

6. Simon Yates (GB) Mitchelton-Scott at 21s

7. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors at 22s

8. Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin at 28s

9. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida at same time

10. Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team at 29s