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Giro d'Italia stage 20 – Live coverage

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Good morning. So this is it (probably). The day that will decide the outcome of the 2020 Giro d'Italia. It's stage 20 and we climb to Sestiere three times during the stage after the route had to be altered earlier in the week. 

Here's how the GC stands coming into the race. It's incredibly close and there's less than 15 seconds between first and third and three riders, who have never been on a Grand Tour podium, set to decide the race.

Kelderman has only held the lead for a day, well about 124km to be more precise, but this is without doubt the biggest day of his career. It's the same for the other two maglia rosa candidates, to be fair. And can you totally rule out Bilbao who came back on stage 18 and is a dark horse for the podium at the very least.

We're about 15 minutes from the start of stage 20. I've checked Telegram and there's no last minute alternations as far as I can see. 

We're close to the start of the stage here in Alba. The mood is tense but it's more through excitement, whereas yesterday it was just tense due to the row between the organisers and the majority of teams. We've not seen Vegni yet this morning but he's around for sure. Yesterday the Italian told reporters that 'someone would pay' for what happened on stage 19. Frankly, you can see his argument but you can also understand why the riders have had enough. From broken bubbles to having helicopters flown at their heads, this has been a stressful race. The circumstances have been tough and RCS have tried to mitigate several problems but everyone will be relieved when we reach Milan and they can go home.

This is what's awaiting the riders on today's stage, and they'll climb it three times. 

Sunweb are probably willing to let a break go in the hope that the bonus seconds are  taken but Ineos will probably drive the peloton today in the hope of cracking Kelderman. Hindley is in a really interesting position because if he doesn't wait for Kelderman then he has to drop Tao Geoghegan Hart.

Of course this stage would have been even harder if we'd had the Colle dell’Agnello and Col d’Izoard but they were both pulled from the route about a week ago. Still, there's enough mountain terrain on the menu to blow this race apart.

In terms of the break, this is the last chance for a number of teams to take a stage, so that will help Sunweb to some extent but there's also a couple of intermediate sprints in the stage too, one about 58km in and then the second one just before the final ascent. 

Click here for our main preview that looks ahead to the final weekend of action at the Giro d'Italia.

Kelderman has spoken to RAI this morning and this is what the Dutch rider has had to say:

"Nervous, yes. For sure, it’s the last big day, and a hard day, for sure. I try to hold it and get it to Milan. Racing conditions, I have no fear of. It’s just that we are short, together in GC. We can expect some attacks. That’s the biggest fear, but we have a super strong team, and try to control. I still feel really good, so I look forward to it."

We are up and running on stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia. The flag has dropped and the stage has begun. Here we go!

Conditions are slightly overcast, a riders have arm warmers on, but it's almost November. No attacks just yet but it's only a matter of time.

Just a reminder of where things stand on GC:

1 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 80:29:19
2 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:0:12
3 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:0:15
4 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:19
5 Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:16
6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:03:59
7 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:40
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:47
9 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:06:46
10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:28

There's really only four riders fighting for the podium but could we see an audacious attack from Nibali on the penultimate ascent? He won't win the race but he's got that sort of attack in his locker, even if the legs aren't great. Also, he's one of the few riders in the top ten who would be willing to risk everything with a long-range attack.

8km covered and the bunch is still together. 

20km covered in the stage so far, so that's 170km to go. Maths!

The first 107km of the stage are relatively flat but then we start the long road uphill to the base of the first ascent. 

24km into the stage and we have a break and there are some interesting names in there.

The gaps are around 10-20 seconds for now but they could quickly expand if the bunch sits up. They're not traveling as fast at the moment.

That's an interesting move from McNulty but Sunweb and Ineos have kept their riders back. Bahrain have one rider up the road, which is a probably a smart move given the fact that Ineos are going to probably blow the race apart on the final set of climbs.

Situation

30km covered and those two leading groups have formed one large breakaway with the peloton at around 40 seconds. 

40km and the gap has gone out massively to six minutes. 

Riders in the break are:

Astana have missed the move and are leading the chase, which simply takes the pressure off the other GC teams. Astana are chasing the stage of course and perhaps hoping to see Fuglsang move up at the end of the day. 

McNulty is the highest placed rider on GC, 14th at 33:12. He's no threat to the top-ten but was probably following wheels this morning and is using this as further experience in his maiden Grand Tour. He has come undone in the last week of racing but at 22 has a great future ahead of him.

Situation

It looks like Demare and Viviani are going to sprint it out for the intermediate points. It's worth pointing out that this is a rare time Savio's Androni team have missed the break.

Demare wins the sprint and Viviani doesn't contest it.

57km covered and the gap to the main field is holding at seven minutes.

Earlier in the stage we saw Ganna and Denz marking each other and both riders will be important today because the longer they last the deeper the rest of the Ineos and Sunweb climbers can go into the stage. 

We've covered 67km of the stage so far and the sun is finally out. 

The large break have 7'10 on the peloton. 

It's still Astana who lead the peloton at the moment, with Bahrain McLaren just behind them. 

Tao Geoghegan Hart and his Ineos teammates are just behind Kelderman and Hindley with 117km to go.

Adam Hansen, who got a lot of heat yesterday (unfairly) has released a statement regarding yesterday's scenes. This is probably his final road race as a pro and he deserves credit for his career and what he's done to support riders. Here are his comments