Giro d'Italia stage 13 - Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live race coverage from stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia.

We're in Ravenna for the start of today's stage and most riders have already signed on. It's a pan-flat stage and one of the last chances for the sprinters left in the race as we head to Verona for today's stage conclusion. The roll out will take place in about 25 minutes. 

Here's a reminder of how things stand in the overall coming into today's stage:

General classification after stage 12

1 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 48:29:23
2 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:0:45
3 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:12
4 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:17
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:01:22
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:50
7 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:22
8 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:24
9 Tobias Foss (Nor) Jumbo-Visma 0:02:49
10 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 0:03:29

Please don't forget, if you're interested in streaming today's action all you need to do is read our guide to VPNs and then 'borrow' your parents' credit card. Here's our guide.

Some early good news this morning is that Segafredo have signed a contract extension to remain as a title sponsor for the men's and women's Trek-Segafredo teams. You can read our story on that right here.

Trek Segafredo have had a bit of a mixed Giro so far. The race started well but both Nibali and Ciccone lost time on the dirt roads of stage 11. They bounced back yesterday and Nibali clawed back a handful of seconds after two strong attacks. The time gained was marginal but it was the intent and desire that demonstrated that Egan Bernal may not have everything his own way in this year's race. Here's what the shark had to say about his attacks on stage 12.

We've had sprints in Verona before. This wasn't at the Giro but the Worlds in 1999 and it's still one of the best endings to a one-day race we've seen with then-unknown Oscar Freire winning the rainbow jersey. A couple of years ago I went and spoke to him (and several others) about that amazing day of racing. Here's the podcast.

At the time Oscar was doing up his [amazing] house and he's really into his woodwork so had made loads of the furniture in his own workshop that was part of the house. He had this incredible wardrobe too with loads of his old jerseys that dated all the way back to when he was a kid. I could have spent days going through them all. I'll try and dig out a pic shortly.   

We're about 10 minutes from the official roll out for stage 13 of the Giro d'italia. 

Verona’s not hosted a road stage finish since 1997, when Mirco Gualdi took victory. Since then, it’s hosted the race’s final time trial on three occasions, in 2007, 2010 and, most recently, in 2019, when Chad Haga won the stage and Richard Carapaz was confirmed as the overall champion.

The main contenders for today's stage are all near the top of the standings for the points classification.

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 108

2 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates 91

3 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-up Nation 91

4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 79

5 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 76

There's also Dylan Groenewegen, who can't be ignored at this point. Both Ewan and Merlier have left the race so only Sagan from the names above has won a stage in this year's race. 

The interesting part of the first hour or racing will be which of the sprinters' teams will chase. I don't think Bora will do too much. They've won already with Sagan and have Buchmann back into contention for the GC. They don't have to chase. Cofidis and UAE on the other hand, they could control the pace of the peloton once the early attacks are made.

The riders have started to roll out under blue skies. 

In the CN blimp we're just handing over to Stephen Farrand for a bit.

Before the 198km stage starts, the riders face a 5.3km neutralised sector. 

Maglia Rosa Egan Bernal is up front and tucked up behind the race director's car. 

They riders are enjoying the sun and 24C weather.

Everyone seems happy to ride on flat roads across the Po delta to Verona.

The riders are on a bridge, the only real climbing today. 

Today’s stage is dedicated to the poet Dante on the 700th anniversary of his death.

The stage starts in Ravenna, where he is buried, and finishes in Verona, where he lived in exile from Florence. The Florentine poet, full name Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri, was exiled from the city of his birth in 1302. 

He began writing the Divine Comedy in 1304, and finished it 17 years later, in 1321, the year of his death. It is an astonishing, all-encompassing work, using and inventing expressive techniques to which world literature is the heir and beneficiary, while chronicling and critiquing his times. The Divine Comedy is also a brilliant roadbook of medioeval Italy. Dozens of towns, villages, rivers, languages and landscapes on this year’s race route are mentioned in it.

The race reaches Kilometro Zero, the flag is waved and the stage is underway! 

Straight away the ProTeams go on the attack. 

And the peloton lets them go. 

The the trio are Samuele Rivi (Eolo), Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli).

They surely know they have little chance of staying away until Verona but there are other goals: Lots of time on live television and the fight for the Fuga prize that is given to the rider who spends the most kilometres on the attack. 

Pellaud leads with 504km, Marengo is at 474km, with Rivi sixth at 240km.  

They could add close to 198km to that total today.

Behind the peloton rolls along, allowing the gap to rise to 1:30.

Before the stage, the Italian national anthem was played for Elia Viviani, who will be one of the two Italian flag bearers at the Tokyo Olympics. 

Today's stage finishes in his home city of Verona.

Click below to read what he said about the stage and his pride of bearing an Italian flag bearer.

Viviani looks to raise standard in Giro d'Italia homecoming in Verona

The riders passed Dante's tomb as they left Ravenna.

While the Italian autostrada heads to Bologna sand then north to Verona, today's stage route cuts across the flat roads via Ferrara and Mantova. 

Ferrara is famous  its history and in cycling it is known as the home for the infamous Dr. Michele Ferrari, who was banned for life by USADA by his involvement in Lance Armstrong's doping programme.

He has always denied any wrong doing.  

Ferrari was famous for his measuring of blood values. He worked for the Gewiss team when they dominated in 1994 but left the team after his famous phrase on the dangers of EPO.

"EPO is not dangerous, it's the abuse that is. It's also dangerous to drink 10 liters of orange juice" he stupidly said.

185km to go

The peloton rolls on and so the gap to the break is up to 3:40.

Thomas De Gendt and Belgian national champion Dries De Bondt of Alpecin-Fenix. 

Our three rider break of Samuele Rivi (Eolo), Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli) have 4'59 over the peloton with 178.5km to go.

The peloton continue to ride gently as the gap moves out to over five minutes for the first time. These three leaders will probably be allowed to establish around 10 minutes before the sprint teams take over. Bernal is second wheel right now, and he's really not moved from there since moving into the maglia rosa a few days ago. 

Here's an update on Mohoric, who had that horrific crash a few days ago in which his bike snapped in two. He's recovering now but needs to take time off from racing. 

Still no intent from the main field, with the gap to the peloton going out to 6'53 with 169km to go.

And it's Ineos Grenadiers who have started to assemble at the front of the peloton. They're not really chasing, just setting a comfortable tempo and keeping Bernal out of trouble. 

That move from Ineos has sparked life from Cofidis, and Viviani's team have posted two riders on the front of the peloton with 168km to go.

The gap has moved out to 7'34 but it looks like this could be the peak as UAE Team Emirates, as we expected, are about to join Cofidis when it comes to chasing this break down.

Jumbo Visma have joined the party on the front of the peloton by providing the services of Paul Martens.

The gap is slowly starting to come down. It's at 6'52 with 152km to go.

UAE and Jumbo line out the peloton and chip another 30 seconds off the break's lead with 144km to go. 

Nizzolo has also sent a rider to the front with the Italian hoping to finally win his maiden Giro stage after so many near misses. 

A bit further back in the bunch and Bernal is wolfing down some lunch while his bodyguard Ganna rides alongside him. It's been a relatively stress-free day for the race leader.

We're just ticking down the kilometers at the moment with a gaggle of sprint teams still on the front and narrowing the break's lead. 136km to go and the gap is at 5'34. 

The break hit the intermediate sprint and it looks like Rivi took that one. It was close though. 

Pellaud is now clear of the two other riders in the break with over 127km to go.

No time gap yet for Pellaud who is intent on maintaining his advantage while the peloton sit at 5'26.

Pellaud has just ten seconds on Marengo and Rivi at this point.

Pellaud isn't sitting up as he tries to get as aero as possible with 120km to go. 

This went under the radar a bit but Mark Cavendish was a DNF in Ruta del Sol yesterday due to stomach problems. The story is here.

118km to go

The breakaway still have regrouped but the gap is just a handful of seconds. Meanwhile the peloton is at 5'49 with 118km to go.

Not quite sure what Pellaud is trying to achieve by this but he continues to press on.

Over in the world of gravel racing there are a couple of major events taking place this weekend. One of them is the Grasshopper Huffmaster and Olympic veteran Geoff Kabush. He pinged us some images of the road bike he's going use for the race and you can check out our feature right here.

Pellaud's efforts have dragged out the gap to the peloton to 6'12 and the two chasers still haven't made contact. 113km to go.

The two chasers are hot on Pellaud's heels and they look like they will catch him. 'Why?' will probably be their first question when contact is made. 

112km to go and the leaders reform to make a trio. No words are shared but Rivi puts his hand up for the team car. 

Having dropped to around 5'30 the gap is at least back up to 6'36 but there's no concern in the main field. 

Marengo and Rivi aren't happy with Pellaud and they're keeping the Androni rider at the front for now and not coming through for a turn. Now Rivi comes through, and some words are said. Marengo chips in too and Pellaud shakes his head. Awkward. 

No climbs at all today, it's totally flat, so it's all about the sprinters as we see their teams continue to control the race. Tomorrow the race climbs the Monte Zoncolan, so the GC riders will be more than happy with the pace of today's stage so far.

Affini is off the back of the peloton for some reason, jersey almost totally unzipped. Doesn't look good. The situation I mean, not that he looks bad with his jersey undone. I'll stop talking.

The bunch has totally lined out though, and it's about 150m in length. We've got 103km to go and the gap is at 5'46. We're almost halfway through the stage, so there's light at the end of the tunnel. 

Back to the world of gravel and the L39ION of Los Angeles are going to rock up in California for the next round of the Grasshopper series. Should be a great race. Here's what the L39ION of Los Angeles riders had to say a few days ago. 

100km to go

100km to go and the gap is at 5'22. 

Paul Martens is back on the front and for the first time the gap is down to 4'52. We've got 98km to go so the peloton are slowly upping the pace. 

A reminder of the GC ahead of today's stage. We shouldn't expect any changes today given the profile of the stage but this is the Giro and almost anything can and will happen.

1 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 48:29:23
2 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:0:45
3 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:12
4 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:17
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:01:22
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:50
7 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:22
8 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:24
9 Tobias Foss (Nor) Jumbo-Visma 0:02:49
10 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 0:03:29

Oh yes, we've interviewed Hugh Carthy's rather fetching road bike. Here's the exclusive. 

The bunch strip out another 30 seconds off the break's advantage and it's at 4'00 with 94km to go. 

89km to go for the leaders in the break, who have seen yet another minute snipped of their advantage. The gap is at 3'05. 

A gaggle of Cofidis riders have moved closer to the front with Viviani in tow. They've been smart today, having committed earlier on but then taken more a back seat in the last hour with the chase. Can the Italian show his form of old and take a much needed win for him and his French team.

Peter Sagan and his teammate Giovanni Aleotti are chatting while they wolf down some food. The three time world champion will feature in the sprint today and could take his second stage of the race. He may not have the raw speed compared to some of the riders here but he's not far off. 

Out front and the three leaders are deep in conversation. Their lead has dropped to 2'26 with 80km to go.

This is an odd one. Gaviria is off the back of the bunch with what looks like a nosebleed. He's with the race doctor now. He didn't fall. 

A bunch of riders have dropped back to the team cars, Bernal included but the race leader is pacing himself back as we head into the final 75km of the stage.

Cofidis are back on the front with Natnael Berhane setting the pace. 

Marengo and Rivi chat at the back of the three man group while Pellaud sits on the front. The gap is down to 3'00 and to be honest the peloton have the break right where they need them. They may even sit up a bit and let the leaders move back out to 4-5 minutes.

At the back we see Groenewegen playing with his shoes. On paper, and certainly 12 months ago you'd had said he's the fastest sprinter left in the race but due his ban he's only coming back to form at the moment. His best result in the race so far was fourth on stage 2. 

Marengo was a food courier during last year's lockdown. You can read Barry Ryan's interview with the rider, right here.

Latest from Ruta del Sol....

Kilian Frankiny is on the front of the peloton now with the gap to the break back out to 3'37 with 67km to go.

Viviani is sitting just behind the Ineos pace line. 

Here's our report from Ruta del Sol, where Greipel has rolled back the years to take another win.

60km to go

60km to go and the gap is at 2'38.

Carthy drops back with some teammates and the pace is relatively stable in the main field. That said, the gap to the break is down to 2'15 with 56km to go.

In the next 20km or so the pace will really increase as the sprinters and their teams start to fight for position. 

Up front though and Rivi has attacked from the break ahead of the next intermediate sprint. He's basically replicating what Pellaud did earlier.

Rivi takes the points at the intermediate but it's all back together up front. They have 2'28 with 53km to go. 

Kilian Frankiny, Paul Martens and Natnael Berhane are the three riders on the front but all of a sudden with 51km to go a batch of Belgian riders have attacked, including  De Gendt. Pieter Serry is there too. 50km to go and the pace has shot up.

The bunch react and close that move down but there are a few more moves off the front as the peloton string out. Finally, a race has broken out.

Cavagna is taking a huge turn on the front now and that's stretching the peloton with 49km to go.

Jumbo Visma are back on the front and they're just trying to shut things down but then AG2R and Alpecin attack with riders. 

Jumbo are just marking moves at the moment. 

The peloton regroups and now everyone is looking at each other. Cofidis look to just calm things down. The three leaders have 1'49 with 48km to go.

Jumbo Visma just try and cool the situation and Ineos are lending a hand too. Both teams don't want to face constant attacks and panic stations. Up front and Rivi and Pellaud are talking again. 

Simone Consonni has a flat and needs a new bike.

1'18 for the three leaders out front with 43km to go. They'e doomed. Doomed.

Paul Martens is back on the front with 42km to go. We've not seen much of UAE since earlier in the stage, and since we saw Gaviria drop back with a nose bleed. 

42km to go

42km to go and the gap is at 1'01.

Bilbao is back with the race doctor. He lost some time yesterday actually.

Heading through the centre of Mantova, a name Lampre will remember of course, and the peloton have the break at well under a minute. 

Nibali has just dropped back and had a very short word with the race organiser. 38km to go.

Nibali is actually with the race doctor. He looks okay as we see Affini, who is from Mantova, waves to his family and friends who are by the side of the road.

The peloton have knocked off the pace a bit as we exit town and the gap is at 1'09 now with 37km to go.

The peloton don't want to make catch just yet as it will spark a whole new wave of attack. They'll just leave the trio out front until about 15-20km to go. The gap is back out to 1'17 with 35km to go.

Samuele Rivi (Eolo), Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli)  remain out front as we head into the final 30km of stage 13 at the Giro d'Italia. 

There's a bit more organisation at the front of the peloton as GC teams and sprinters start to form pockets of protection around their assets. 

Astana have moved up to help keep Vlasov out of trouble. Of course they don't have a sprinter here so it's all about the young Russian.

25km to go

The pace is back up again and it's almost all over for the break with the gap down to 23 seconds with 25km to go.

Samuele Rivi (Eolo), Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli)  are about to be caught after spending most of the day in the break.

Bora hog the right hand side with Sagan in the wheels, while Gaviria has a rider on the front. The gap is 23 seconds with 24km to go. 

Once more the peloton ease up slightly and that's allowed the break to move back to out to 29 seconds clear. 

41 seconds now for Samuele Rivi (Eolo), Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli). 

The peloton are going as slow now as they were in the first hour of racing but that's all about to change.

20km to go and Cofidis move up yet again for Viviani. The pace is starting to rise. 

A few tight corners and that just strings out the field a little bit. 32 seconds now.

It's far from full gas but here comes EF for Carthy. 

Bernal is riding inside the top 20. He looks calm.

15km to go and Samuele Rivi (Eolo), Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli) have 15 seconds. They're watching each other and they might even have a little dig at each other. 

The peloton can see the riders out front. It's still 15 seconds. 

Remember, no Ewan or Merlier but we still have Sagan, Gaviria, Viviani and Groenewegen in the race. Nizzolo too! Can't forget the European and Italian national champion.

Samuele Rivi (Eolo), Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli) have 15 seconds with 12km to go.

DMS are at the front too for Kanter as the three leaders pull out a few more seconds with the gap up to 21 seconds with 10km to go.

We're into Verona now with 10km to go. 

Now the pace is up and some riders are having to sprint to stay on.

17 seconds, so the gap is coming down.

9km to go there's a lot of road furniture at this point. It's a concern. 

DSM, Cofidis, Assos, EF, and Bora are on the front. 11 seconds to the break. 8.4km to go.

Rivi attacks but the gap is less than 5 seconds. 

Bernal needs to move up with 7km to go. The break has been caught.

Nizzolo is well placed near the front. His team set the pace.

6km to go and DSM sit on Nizzolo's wheel.

Here comes Sagan with his Bora team. 5.5km to go.

Nizzolo finds another rider to support him but Ganna has put Bernal right where he needs to be. 4.7km to go.

DMS now take control for Max Kanter. 4.2km to go.

Gaviria is just waiting for the right time to move up. 

Groenewegen looks a but too far back for now. 3km to go.

Through a tough roundabout and now Gaviria is at the front with his UAE team. 2.2km to go.

Here come Jumbo on the right hand side. 

Sagan and Groenewegen almost side by side. 1.4km to go.

It's Bora on the front with 1km to go. 

Here come Cofidis. 800m to go, final corner.

Affini is off the front.

Here comes Nizzolo. He's chasing him down. This is going to be so close.

Nizzolo has caught Affini. He's coming around him. 

Giacomo Nizzolo finally wins his maiden Giro d'Italia stage. What a sprint from the Italian. 

Here's our top ten for the stage:

1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 4:42:19
2 Edoardo Affini (Ita) Jumbo-Visma
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-up Nation
5 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates
6 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal
7 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
8 Max Kanter (Ger) Team DSM
9 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
10 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma

Nizzolo had to open his sprint from a long way out but he used Affini perfectly. Well deserved for the European champion.

A very popular winner, with Sagan and several other riders congratulating him. 

Here's our report from today's dramatic stage. 

Let's hear from the winner:

My goal this morning was to be second, maybe this was a trick to get the victory. I'm super happy. The only goal I had today was to sprint and not get blocked in the final so I went quite far in the wind - but I had good legs and it worked out.

(Affini's attack) It was reference for me - I tried to catch him as far [out] as possible. He did a great effort, so congrats to him as well.We took the lead because of the roundabouts - I know it was quite early but in the end I wanted to be there safe and out of trouble.

It means a lot. I don't think my value has changed because of victory in the Giro but obviously it's nice so I will enjoy.

The maglia rosa has also spoken:

It was a bit calm. Finally we have an easy day in the Giro. I think we had some time to recover a little bit. Tomorrow we will have a hard day. From now we need to start thinking about tomorrow.

Nothing special, you always want to be in the front. I saw an opportunity and I move a little bit in the front. You never know what can happen behind, it's better to avoid some crashes, but always without taking any risks.

Zoncolan: It would be special (to win) but it is difficult to control the peloton, to control the breaks. I would be happy if I could just keep the maglia but I will do my best.

Our full race report and results are now live. Here you go.

Gaviria loses saddle in Giro d'Italia sprint

Fernando Gaviria sprinted out of the saddle in the finish straight of stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia, but he couldn't have sat down even if he'd wanted to.