Giro d'Italia 2015: Stage 3

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January 1 - May 31, Rapallo , Italy, Road - WorldTour

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Welcome to live coverage of the Giro d'Italia stage 3 from Rapallo to Sestri Levante

The third stage of the Giro d'italia is set to get underway in the next 20 minutes. Michael Matthews is in the maglia rosa today, after taking it from his teammate Simon Gerrans.

A quick look at how the overall standings look after the opening weekend.

It was a crash packed finish to yesterday's stage with much of the peloton getting caught behind a crash in the last 12 kilometres. The incident was caused by a spectator attempting to ride along with the speeding group. You can watch the footage of the crash shot by a spectator right here.

Elia Viviani was lucky enough to avoid the crash and went on to win his first Grand Tour stage, ahead of Moreno Hofland and André Greipel. Click here to hear what he had to say after the stage.

The flag has dropped and the peloton are now riding through the neutral zone.

Today is a short and punchy stage with two climbs over 136 kilometres. There is enough time after the summit of the second category Barbagelata, which comes at 92km, for the sprinters to make it back on but it is also a big opportunity for an escapee to take the glory.

Today's stage finishes in Sestri Levante. It's the fifth time that a stage of the Giro d'Italia will finish in the Ligurian town. It first appeared in 1960 when Gastone Nencini took victory on his way to finishing second overall. Lars Bak won here in 2012, the last time the race visited the town.

If you haven't had a chance to watch yesterday's stage 2 or want to remind yourself of what happened? You can watch highlights of it here. Alternatively, if you can't watch video, why not read our detailed report here.

131km remaining from 136km

Apologies it is actually 25 riders out ahead of the main peloton.

That gap has now gone up to over a minute. We are waiting for confirmation of all the riders in the group but it seems that Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Davide Vilella (Cannondale), Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo), Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) are part of the group.

Tom Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin) is currently trying to make his way across the to group.

Pre-race favourite Alberto Contador made it through yesterday's stage without any trouble. The Spaniard says that things are going perfectly at the moment.

Darwin Atapuma is reportedly among the 25 riders our front, giving BMC strength in numbers with Burghardt and Gilbert also among the escapes. Atapuma has had a tough week after his mum passed away last week. The Colombian decided to start and race in her honour.

Slagter hasn't managed to bridge across to the escapees and he has been caught by the peloton.

As well as Vorobyev, Pieter Serry and Ramon Carratero both abandoned after the late crash yesterday.

We're still piecing together the breakaway group but here is a look at who is out front today.

Lindeman was in the break yesterday and he took the mountains classification. He'll be looking to add to his total with two classified ascents today.

As we say that it's Zardini who takes the points at the top of the first climb ahead of Ulissi and Herrada.

Finally we have the full make-up of the breakaway group. Here are the men out front.

After taking the points at the top of the first climb, Zardini has decided to go it alone. He currently has 40 seconds on his break companions.

101km remaining from 136km

The peloton seem very wary and are closing in on the third group on the road. With this being the equal shortest stage of the race they can't give the leaders too big an advantage.

We've had a bit of a change up at the front of the peloton. It's now Ulissi and Villella on the attack.

91km remaining from 136km

In the peloton it's Tinkoff-Saxo working on the front with Orica-GreenEdge behind them. With Esteban Chaves out front, the Australian team look like they're taking a bit of a back seat.

It appears the BMC rider int he front group is Dillier.

The seven men who have branched out front have a small 11-second lead on the chasers with the peloton just over a minute behind.

84km remaining from 136km

Problem for mountains classification leader Lindeman. He puts his hand up and calls for the car.

Adam Hansen is in the second group on the road. It's Hansen's birthday today. Can he give himself a present of a stage win?

If you're just joining us, a quick reminder of how things are on the road. We've got four leaders with a 25-second advantage on a large group of chasers. Tinkoff-Saxo are leading the peloton at around 1:20 back.

One of the big talking points today was the crash caused towards the end of Sunday's stage 2 when a spectator attempted to join the peloton as the sped past. You can watch the incident here.

Our four leaders have been caught by the chasers. We have one big group our front once again.

The lead group now looks like this with Tinkoff-Saxo still doing the chasing behind.

Mikel Nieve is also part of the front group for team Sky.

We haven't seen much of Richie Porte today, the Australian has has kept his nose clean so far today. Yesterday, Team Sky told Cyclingnews that Porte is staying in a motorhome throughout the Giro d'Italia. Take a look at his abode for the next three weeks here.

71km remaining from 136km

Chris Juul Jenson has been the man doing the work on the front of the peloton for quite some time and the gap continues to come down and is now at 47 seconds. It looks set to be a sprint finish today but anything can happen in the next 60 kilometres.

A problem for Zardini in the front group. The Italian had an issue with his gears but his teammate gave him a little push to make sure he kept rolling along as the leaders continue climbing.

A problem for Zardini in the front group. The Italian had an issue with his gears but his teammate gave him a little push to make sure he kept rolling along as the leaders continue climbing.

63km remaining from 136km

Another sprinter bites the dust. Luka Mezgec has been distanced as has Tom Boonen. Maglia rosa Michael Matthews is still in the bunch though and all this is good news for him.

61km remaining from 136km

Chirico has been reportedly dropped from the front group. They're still dangling out in front of the peloton as the gap increases slightly to 52 seconds.

Chirico has been reportedly dropped from the front group. They're still dangling out in front of the peloton as the gap increases slightly to 52 seconds.

It's still Juul Jensen on the front of the peloton. The Danish rider is leading the main group down the descent towards Montebruno and the final climb of the day.

Domenico Pozzovivo was one of the riders to lose time in on of yesterday's crashes. Now almost 2 minutes down, the AG2R-La Mondiale leader has said that he will go on the attack. Read what he had to say after yesterday's stage.

53km remaining from 136km

Dillier leads out Gilbert for the intermediate sprint. The Belgian takes the points with Clarke behind him and Dillier in third.

Clarke has earned some bonus seconds with the two intermediate sprints, which means that he could well be the new maglia rosa at the end of the day.

The peloton is now on the Barbagelata and Viviani already looks like he's struggling. He's about five men from the back of the peloton.

48km remaining from 136km

Stefano Pirazzi attacks from the peloton as Sebastian Henao goes out the back. A worrying sign with much bigger climbs to come in the Giro.

Pirazzi has made the juncture to the leading group but they've only got 18 seconds on the peloton now and it won't be long before things come together.

Almost as soon as he sees the back of the leading group Pirazzi cracks and is caught by the peloton once again. This is proving much tougher than a lot of riders expected.

46km remaining from 136km

Nobody can follow the Katusha rider and he takes the points at the top of the climb

The breakaway coming over the top of the climbs in bits and pieces with the peloton not too far behind them.

Kotchetkov will be in the blue jersey of the mountains classification tomorrow after that clever dig near the top of the Barbagelata.

If you missed it earlier today, footage emerged of a fan attempting to join the peloton during yesterday's stage, which resulted in a big crash.

42km remaining from 136km

Pozzovivo has crashed. It looks like it was a very hard crash.

Worrying sight of the Italian lying face down. Let's hope that it looks worse than it actually is. He's receiving medical attention at the moment.

36km remaining from 136km

No news on how Pozzovivo is. We will try to bring you any news on his condition as soon as we can.

Behind Kochetkov there are lots of riders being distanced from the chasing group. It is Gilbert and Chaves on the front through and leading the chase.

Reports coming throuhgh from Italian television that Pozzovivo is concious and moving.His race is surely over but that is great news considering.

A few of the dropped riders are being mopped up by the Tinkoff-Saxo led peloton on this descent.

26km remaining from 136km

We haven't seen the maglia rosa Michael Matthews for quite some time but we can only assume that he's still in the main peloton. They're a minute behind Kochetkov at the moment but he still has to be a favourite for today should the peloton catch Kochetkov. Fancy a look at his bike for the race? You can do that right here.

The chasers are now 20 seconds behind Kochtkov. The riders doing the chasing are Gilbert, Paterski, Samoilau, Ulissi, Hansen, Herrada, Chaves, Clarke, Gavazzi and Villella

Rai TV says race doctor Giovanni Tredici said of Pozzovivo: There’s good news, I’ve been told that he’s conscious. He hurt his face but its not an emergency situation at the moment. Dr Branca in ambulance 1 is with him but the news is comforting.

17km remaining from 136km

Philippe Gilbert hands a bit of power bar to Jesus Herrada in the break, however he wasn't so happy when Maciej Paterski took a drink from the BMC car.

After Tinkoff-Saxo did almost all the work on the front, Pieter Weening of Orica-GreenEdge has gone to the front for a bit but pulls off fairly quickly. The gap is now 44 seconds.

14km remaining from 136km

Hansen attacks from the chasing group.

Clarke follows Hansen

Peaterski has also gone with Hanson and Clarke as Chaves is caught be the peloton.

AG2R-La Mondiale have confirmed that Pozzovivo is conscious and lucid after his heavy crash earlier.

The three chasers have Kochetkov in their sights with 11km to go.

10km remaining from 136km

9km remaining from 136km

7km remaining from 136km

5km remaining from 136km

The peloton almost have the leaders back now and Kochetkov attacks again with Clarke quick to get into his wheel.

3km remaining from 136km

It's not all bad for Kochetkov who will have the mountains jersey tomorrow.

2km to go and Astana are coming to the front too. After the crashes of yesterday the teams are very cautious.

We're under the flamme rouge

Michael Matthews wins stage 3

Michael Matthews ensures himself another day in the pink with that win. He beat Fabio Felline and Philippe Gilbert in the sprint.

A replay of the sprint shows that Matthews took is by almost a bike's length. The Australian used Feline as his final leadout man, sprinting around him in the final hundred metres.

Matthews was the only genuine sprinter remaining in that group. His team did a great job to get him in that position and cleaver work putting two men into the escape. The bonus seconds mean that Matthews has a six-second lead over his teammate Clarke.

Confirmation of the top 10 from the stage

Here is the top 10 in the GC after that stage

Michael Matthews was obviously delighted after his win. Here is what he had to say after the stage.

For a full recap, result and photos from today's stage, make sure to stick with Cyclingnews. You can find all that here.

There will also be action and reaction from today's stage on our video page. Subscribe here so you don't miss anything.

As we wrap up our coverage today we must talk about Domenico Pozzovivo. The Italian is in hospital after crashing hard today. The good news is that he's conscious. More information here as we get it.

That's it from Cyclingnews today, join us tomorrow for full coverage of stage four as Michael Matthews continues his run in the maglia rosa.

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