Elia Viviani wins second stage of the Giro d'Italia as Chris Froome finishes safely but remains way off the pace

Australian rider Rohan Dennis will wear the pink jersey in the third and final stage in Israel after taking a one-second lead over defending champion Tom Dumoulin

Elia Viviani won the second stage of the Giro d'Italia with a time of 3:51:20 (Getty)

Italy’s Elia Viviani won a pulsating sprint finish to take the second stage of the Giro d’Italia as Chris Froome failed to make up any ground in Tel Aviv.

Viviani pipped fellow Italian Jakub Mareczko to victory after recovering from a long way behind to secure the 167km stage.

Australian rider Rohan Dennis will wear the pink jersey in the third and final stage in Israel after taking a one-second lead over defending champion Tom Dumoulin, helped by a three-second time bonus after superb work from his team-mates.

Britain's Froome, who was 37 seconds off the lead at the start of the day following a pre-stage crash in practice ahead of the first stage on Friday, managed to finish safely in the peloton alongside race-leader Dennis, placing him 20^th overall after two stages, but still 38 seconds off the lead.

Dennis, team leader of BMC Racing, leads Dumoulin of Team Sunweb and Belgian Victor Campenaerts of Lotto Soudal, who is three seconds back.

"The team rode for me in the 30km before the intermediate sprint and delivered me perfectly," said Dennis.

"It was the result of massive teamwork. I think Viviani sprinted but didn't go full gas so it was good to see him get the stage win after, not exactly gifting me the intermediate sprint, but he was kind, let's be honest."

Viviani, riding for Quick-Step Floors, finished the 167km leg down the Mediterranean coast from Haifa to Tel Aviv in less than four hours as thousands lined the route to see the first Grand Tour held outside of Europe.

"The win, everyone was expecting but doing it is never easy," said Viviani, who registered a time of 3hrs:51m:20s.

Stage 3 will follow a lengthy 229km route on Sunday from Beersheba in the Negev desert down to Israel's southern tip of Eilat along the Red Sea.

The race will then return to Italy, and the island of Sicily, for an early rest day on Monday. The Giro will end in Rome on 27th May.

Additional reporting by AP