Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) claimed back-to-back stages in the Giro d'Italia with victory on stage 3 in Dublin. The German had to do it the hard way this time and forced himself into contention after losing contact with his rivals in the last kilometre. However, he proved his mettle, pulling himself onto Ben Swift's wheel before edging out the Team Sky rider on the line. Elia Viviani (Cannondale) finished third.

Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) retained his maglia rosa and will lead the race back to Italy. Alessandro Petacchi (Omega Pharma QuickStep) moved into second overall but the Italian still sits eight seconds down on the Australian.

For the second day in a row, the day belonged to Kittel, who picked up his second stage of the race, and on his 26th birthday to boot. He had come from a long way down after slipping back in the bunch in the technical sections that littered the final kilometre of racing in Dublin.

Isolated from his team and with Cannondale muscling their way to the front in the dying stages, it looked as though Kittel had given himself too much to do. Whereas Belfast was given a combination of speed and positioning, Dublin was treated to unadulterated show of force with the German powering onto Swift’s wheel before giving the last ounces of power into coming around the Sky rider. Even with a head start Kittel’s rivals cannot stop him.

"I came here with the goal to win the first stage and after that the pressure is off slightly but today was not easy and it was really close at the finish," Kittel said.

"The road got really narrow with two kilometres to go and we knew that we had to be in front here and we were but I got sandwiched and it was a choice of letting go of Tom [Veeler]'s wheel or probably crashing. This put me out of position slightly and a bit far back but I was never going to give up on the chance to win a stage.

"When I could see the finish line after the final corner I gave it everything and it was really close but I just concentrated on the line and managed to come past everyone.

"It is extra special to win on your birthday and I must thank my teammates for the work they did for me again today. We can have a day of down time now before targeting the next flat stage in Italy."

Swift gave it everything, even telling reporters at the line that he though the win was his. He, like Kittel, was sprinting on the back foot after a mechanical problem in the last 10 kilometres forced him to chase the bunch. Edvald Boasson Hagen, who had crashed earlier in the stage, delivered the Yorkshire man to the line well enough and Viviani, despite Cannondale’s superior leadout on the day, could only manage third.

"Swifty got second place, which was good, and it’s a pity he couldn’t quite hang on for the win," Boasson Hagen said. "As a team, we produced a really good lead out, so everyone’s happy, and I’m sure Swifty will be challenging for victories again soon.”

It was a thrilling finale to what had been a stage best described as pedestrian at times. A block headwind and persistent rain showers didn’t help and when a five man group escaped after six kilometres of racing, the pattern was set.

Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin), who had told the press he would attack in a bid to extend his lead in the king of the mountains competition, was the first to attack. He was joined by Yonder Godoy (Androni), Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Colombia), Gert Dockx (Lotto Belisol) and Giorgio Cecchinel (Neri Sottoli - Yellow Fluo) and the quintet set about establishing a lead as the peloton huddled together in the wet and blustery conditions.

Tjallingii duly mopped up the maximum points on offer over both of the fourth category climbs to ensure that he will take the jersey back to Italy and wear it until the end of stage 5.

The Orica-GreenEdge led peloton were content to see the five man move go clear and only when the gap moved out to six minutes did they muster up the energy to chase.

The peloton looked to have done too much too soon when they reduced to gap to 2:40 with 96km to go.

They duly let the lead drift out to four minutes as the leaders passed through the feedzone, where back in the bunch there were scares for Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Manuel Belletti (Androni Giocattoli) after both riders were involved in separate falls.

Lampre breathed a sigh of relief when Przemyslaw Niemiec picked himself up after a fall with 32km to go. The Polish rider was quickly back on his feet and riding again, and with 25 kilometres to go the bunch held the break at one minute.

Rubiano was the first to sit up and although there was a token attack from Cecchinel, the bunch was able to ride conservatively over the tricky and at times dangerous roads.

Astana, BMC and QuickStep look to assert a level of calm on the front in a move to protect their overall ambitions but the sprinters were allowed to have their fun, eventually.

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