Giro d'Italia stage 11 LIVE: Opportunity for the breakaway on punchy terrain
Hills are back on the menu with 2,500 metres of climbing on the way to Chiavari
There are 12 riders in the break: Scaroni, Ballerini, Ciccone, Stuyven, Mozzato, Huens, Jacobs, Garcia Cortina, Pinarello, Rutsch, Bouwman and Zukowsky.
Many in the peloton still aren't happy with this break. UAE had been working at the front to bring them back, and now the wildcard teams Bardiani and Polti have taken over, having also failed to get a rider in it.
Scaroni is the highest placed rider on GC in the group, in 16th at 6:59. He lost a lor of time in yeterday's time trial, perhaps in the hope of being allowed to get into a break like this.
This lead group is staying clear from the peloton for now, but Ciccone doesn't look happy with the cohesion, gesticulating towards some others in the group.
Morgado hasn't gone clear though, and so fellow UAE rider Bjerg is pulling at the front of the peloton
UAE have missed the move and are trying to ammend that, with Morgado attacking from the peloton.
Also in this leading group are Bouwman, Garcia Cortina, Bayer, Mozzato, and others.
There's a third Astana rider in this group too, and they're keen to make this move stick by riding at the front.
More riders are trying to join them from the peloton behind.
There are plenty more quality riders along with Ciccone in this group, including former stage winner Ballerini, his Astana teammate Scaroni, and Stuyven.
That group hss a lead of 15 seconds.
Ciccone is among these riders. He's one of the favourites for the stage win.
Already there are about 15 riders off the front with that Groupama rider, with more trying to join.
The riders will begin from a standing start, as they've been stopped at KM 0 for the flag wave alongsde some VIPs.
Vingegaard talking to Magnier at the start. Magnier will once again have to be attentive to keep an eye on points classification rival Jonathan Milan, as there's an intermediate spint coming up 68km from the start that will surely have his eye on.
Jonas Vingegaard at the start, still wearing the blue King of the Montain's jersey, having failed to depose Afonso Eulálio in pink.
The riders are off for the unofficial start. This is going to be a big fight to get into the break, so many will want to get to as close to the front as possible.
Have a read of our more in-depth preview of today's parcours.
While there are some tough climbs on the menu today, they’re perhaps not quite hard enough to draw the GC contenders out into another fight. Instead, the main focus today will be on the breakaway, and what looks set to be a very intense contrast for the stage win.
Yesterday was one of the most significant GC sort outs of the race so far, with many of the top favourites finding themselves in a very different position than theory did 24 hours ago. Here’s what some of the top names had to say in reflection.
After the rest day on Monday, and taking it easy during yesterday’s time trial, there will be a whole host of riders ready to unleash all of the energy they’ve stored up, in a day which presents a great opportunity for breakaway success.
Hello and welcome to stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia!
