Elia Viviani (Sky) has won Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia. The Italian took a bunch sprint to win the flat, crash-marred, 177-km run from Alberga to Genoa in 4:13:18. Marco Hofland (LottoNL-Jumbo) took second, and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) finished third. Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) finished seventh and has taken the maglia rosa.

The hostilities began early. At two km, Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), Lukasz Owsian (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Eugert Zhupa (Southeast), and Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo) sallied off of the front. The peloton did not chase immediately, and the quintet’s advantage had swelled to nine minutes at 65 km.

Orica-GreenEdge began to chase. On the day’s only categorized climb, the Category 4 ascent to Pratozanino (206 km), Tinkoff-Saxo Bank took over at the front and took a lot of time out of the escapees. Behind the Russian squad, Astana took up station to protect team captain Fabio Aru.

With 40 km remaining, about two and a half minutes separated bunch and break. Trek and Giant-Alpecin took up the pursuit. Crashes began. Among the riders who went down were Heinrich Haussler, Matteo Pelucchi, and Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling), as well as Darwin Atapuma (BMC) and and Tanel Kangert (Astana). With about 20 km left, Dayer Quintana (Movistar) crashed, and Haussler hit the deck again. Pieter Serry (Etixx-Quick Step) suffered a broken collarbone and abandoned. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) was delayed by a crash and lost a minute to the other contenders.

Tinkoff-Saxo Bank returned to the front to protect team captain Alberto Contador. Again, Astana joined the Russian squad at the front. The two teams kept the pace high and did not surrender control until three km remained.

The sprinters’ teams took over. Orica-GreenEdge and Lampre-Merida led the field into the final km. Greipel started the sprint early. Hofland had the German’s wheel and passed on the left. Unfortunately for Hofland, Viviani got onto his wheel and came around him to take the win.

Viviani pointed out that Sky’s first priority is to support Richie Porte, but he added that he got outstanding assistance from some of his teammates. “We are here to do a good GC with Richie and to win the Giro with him,” the Italian said. “That means I don't have as many guys for the final, but as you saw today the guys did a perfect job for Richie and also for me. In the last three km Salvatore Puccio and Bernie [Eisel] were there for me. They did incredible work.

"I saw Hofland win last week in Yorkshire and today when I saw him sprint I thought he would be a good guy to follow. Greipel started the sprint from a long way, but I knew the road went up and I waited for the right moment to start my sprint. I'm really, really happy."

In the overall, Matthews leads teammates Gerrans and Simon Clarke. Stage 3 will be a rugged, 136-km ride from Rapallo to Sestri Levante. The stage will include two Category 2 climbs, the second of which will summit 43 km from the finish. The sprinters should fight out the finish. Who will win? Matthews? Viviani? Greipel? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!

Today's Giro d'Italia stage winner Elia Viviani and his Sky Pro Cycling Team + Giro leader Michael Matthews and Team Orica-GreenEdge all use our training tracker to log, analyze and plan their training and nutrition. Get their advantage by signing up for the same training tracker here.