Dennis nabs pink jersey, Viviani takes second stage

TEL AVIV: A day after his opening stage lead slipped away to Giro d’Italia defending champion Tom Dumoulin – the last of the 175 riders in the individual time trial – Rohan Dennis got a measure of revenge by taking the pink jersey.

Elia Viviani won the second stage in less than four hours, nudging past Italian countryman Jakub Mareczko in a bunch sprint finish to cap the 167km leg down the Mediterranean coast from Haifa to Tel Aviv.

But it was Dennis, team leader of BMC Racing, who took a one-second lead over Dumoulin overall by winning the leg’s second intermediate sprint. Victor Campenaerts of Belgium remained in third place.

“Yesterday would have been great to get the stage win but I didn’t,” Dennis said with a chuckle.

“We flirted with the idea of going after that second sprint.

“I wasn’t overly keen to do it but the team said, ‘Look, we are doing it’, and they did an excellent job of delivering me.”

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome, who bloodied his right knee and ripped his shorts and jersey in a training crash on Friday, was in 20th place, 38 seconds behind the leader.

Israelis lined the coastal route to embrace the first Grand Tour to be held outside Europe.

Cyclists passed landmarks such as the ancient cities of Acre and Caesarea and encountered thousands of enthusiastic fans, some of whom ran and biked alongside the pros as they whizzed through the Holy Land.

It’s the biggest and most prestigious sporting event staged in Israel, and coincides with Israel marking 70 years of independence. — AP