Giro d'Italia 2014: Stage 11

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January 1 - June 1, Collecchio, ITA, Road - WorldTour

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Welcome to live coverage of stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia from Collecchio to Savona

We are around 20 minutes away from the beginning of stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia. At 249 kilometres, it is the second longest stage of the race.

The big news today is that the former maglia rosa Michael Matthews has abandoned the race. He sprinted to third yesterday, but his injuries from two days ago have forced him to call it a day. You can read it all here.

Today's stage was originally supposed to be the longest of the race, until the peloton were forced to take a diversion on stage 6. It could be the perfect opportunity for a break to succeed today, as the two climbs will prove much too difficult for the sprinters while the GC boys will be saving their energy for the tougher stuff to come.

Will we see Adam Hansen in the breakaway today? He won an epic rain-soaked stage last year and he's gunning for another this season. We spoke to him a few days ago about his grand tour aspirations. You can watch the video here and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel right here.

It's another sunny day in Italy and we're expecting it to stay that way until the finish.

Sign-on closes soon and the riders are piling onto the stage to ensure they can ride today. Nice to see them form an orderly queue.

Want to see what's in store for the peloton today, have a read of our stage preview

And we're off. The peloton roll out for the neutral start

Yesterday was another day for Nacer Bouhanni. He became the first rider to win three stages of the race, after he escaped the final kilometre crash. He's not getting too ahead of himself though and isn't underestimating any of his rivals.

As we wait for the action to get going today, why not catch up with all of our Giro d'Italia videos right here. There's plenty more to come over the next two weeks so make sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single one.

Outside of the Giro d'Italia, it has been reported in German media that Jan Ulrich has been involved in a car crash. The former rider escaped any injury, however two other people involved have been taken to hospital. Police say that Ulirich was over the legal alcohol limit, but he denies it. We will have the full story on Cyclingnews soon.

Another big story from the last 24 hours is that Lance Armstrong has been subpoenaed to provide video testimony in the SCA case. The company are trying to sue the American for $12 million. Read the full story here

Still all together at the moment. The fight to get into the breakaway will be tough today, with the chances of making it to the finish fairly high. Tell us who you think will make it into the break and who could win. Tweet us on @Cyclingnewsfeed and @SadhbhOS and we will post some of your thoughts here.

News is that Winner Ancona of Lampre-Meida is still in the race despite suffering from dysentery. Anacona was in the break on stage 7 last week.

Some of your tweets coming through with your predictions day.

Cadel Evans had a lucky escape yesterday as the peloton came down behind him. The team did receive a blow, however, when his teammate Yannick Eijssen was stretchered out of the race. Hear what he had to say after the finish yesterday, in this video. Don't forget to subscribe.

221km remaining from 249km

A few more of your predictions coming through.

The attacks keep coming today, but the peloton are not letting anything go right now. They can't lets anyone with a GC hope make it away.

We already brought you the news that Michael Matthews didn't start today. Two other DNSs are Georg Preidler (Giant-Shimano) and Miguel Angel Rubiano (Colombia)

Rubiano is the second member of the Colombia team to drop out of the race. His teammate Edwin Avila was outside the time limit on stage 9 by 3:01. The former track rider apparently got off his bike to protest against his team refusing to give him a bidon inside the final 20km. You can read the full story here.

With the departure of those two riders, plus Wegmann, the peloton has been to reduced to 179 down from the original 198 that started. This Giro is taking it's toll and we haven't even reached the toughest parts.

219km remaining from 249km

The average speed of the race so far has been 48kph, no wonder we haven't had a break yet. Extremely hard to get off the front when the peloton are motoring like that. Remember to tweet us at @Cyclingnewsfeed and @SadhbhOS with your predictions for today.

Cycling predictions that it, although we're open to lottery number predictions too if you have them.

203km remaining from 249km

More news coming through about the Wegmann abandon. He reportedly crashed, but rode on for a little while before deciding that the pain was too much. Good news is the German was able to climb into the ambulance himself. He is on his way to hospital to be checked out and we will bring you more news of his condition as we find out.

Garmin are now down to six riders after the abandon of Dan Martin and Koldo Fernandez on the first stage. They will be keen to get into the break today to salvage something from the race.

Earlier we told you about Jan Ulrich being involved in a car crash. You can read the full story here.

199km remaining from 249km

Over the first hour of racing the peloton rode at a whopping 49kph.

Alexandre Geniz and Tim Wellens have attacked. Can they make it stick?

Seems not. The fast pace of the peloton is really making things difficult today. It's BMC who are setting the pace. They're keeping their eye on potential GC contenders.

 Susan jumping in for a spell. We understand there is a break in the peloton, and that Michele Scarponi is in the second group.

Happy Birthday to Dylan Van Baarle of Garmin-Sharp, hitting the ripe old age of 22 today!

Another escape attempt from Francesco Bongiorno (BAR), Francis Mourey (FDJ) and Tim Wellens (Lotto), but also unsuccessful.

Geniez, Quemenuer and Roche are the next to give it a try. BMC is doing its best to keep everything under control.

189km remaining from 249km

No, that group didn't make it, either.

They are taking this climb so fast that some riders are suffering off the back -- including Scarponi.

If you want to actually see what is going on these days, then check out the CN YouTube page here. And be sure to subscribe!

The guys are speedy today, covering 49 to 50 km in the first hour.

With one km to go to the top of the climb, a group of 22 riders has built up a 28 second gap.

We understand that Bardiani and Europcar both have 3 riders in the group, which also includes Morabito, Cataldo, Roche and Moser. But we don't have anything definite yeet.

183km remaining from 249km

Arredondo, Thurau and Roche said to be the first over the climb. Also said to be a seven man group in front. Confusing, yes?

There was a crash on the descent, and Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) has apparently had to abandon the race.

Durbridge's withdrawal leaves the Australian team with only five riders in the race.

We still have conflicting reports as to whether we have a lead group of seven or of 22.......

Things are coming together again in the race, with a group of about 60 now up front.

Double stage winner Diego Ulissi was also involved in that crash. He was able to continue on, though.

Looks like we may have a group of 23 again: Herrada (Movistar Team), Arredondo (Trek), Quintero (Colombia), Cardoso (Garmin - Sharp), Morabito (BMC), Roche and Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo), Cataldo, Deignan and Siutsou (Sky), Moser (Cannondale), Geniez (FDJ), Bongiono, Colbrelli and Zardini (Bardiani-CSF), Bono (Lampre-Merida), Pauwels (Omega), Finetto (Neri Sottoli), Malacarne, Thurau and Quemeneur (Europcar), Gusev (Katusha), Geschke (Giant-Shimano).

After 86 km, the group has 30 seconds on the field, with BMC and Movistar leading the chase.

In other news, Luis Leon Sanchez (Caja Rural) will be undergoing tests to see if he picked up some sort of virus in Africa, as he hasn't been feeling well lately. 

We think we can now confidently report that we have a group of 14 with a gap of 1:40: Bongiorno, Moser, Mourey, Polanc, Monsalve, Quemeneur, Sicard, Thurau, Preidler, Moreno, Vorganov, Deignan, Roche and Rovny.

There were reports earlier that Georg Preidler had abandoned due to a crash. As he is in the escape group, we can safely say that he is still in the race

Here is the full 22 riders in this escape group: Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani), Moreno Moser (Cannondale), Francis Mourey (FDJ), Jan Polanc (Lampre), Yonathan Monsalve (Nero Sottoli), Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar), Romain Sicard (Europcar), Björn Thurau (Europcar), Georg Preidler (Giant-Shimano), Daniel Moreno (Katusha), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Phililp Deignan (Sky), Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo)

Europcar are the most heavily represented in that group with three riders and Tinkoff-Saxo have two.

Apologies, we can't count, that should be 14 rider in that lead group

There are 12 teams without riders in this break, including the team of pink jersey wearer BMC

The 14 riders now have an advantage of 3:20 on the peloton. Francis Mourey is the best placed of the leaders, at 7:52 behind Evans.

Nicolas Roche is one of the escapees today. He's had a rough Giro d'Italia. It began well but was derailed on the stage 6 crash into Montecassino. We spoke to him about his outlook on the race. Watch it here and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The gap is growing quickly now to these 14 riders. It's now 4:08.

104km remaining from 249km

Outside of the Giro d'Italia, news continues to creep out about the Alonso team. Despite rumours that they might not make it for 2015, the team are adamant that they will be there come next January. Read the full article here.

This could be the day for the breakaway, but it all depends on the teams left behind. There are 12 teams not in this break, any of which could decide to try and bring this back together.

Orica-GreenEdge have confirmed that Luke Durbridge has got a suspected collarbone fracture. It's not been a good few days for Durbridge, who could hardly stand at the end of stage 9, after he crashed.

GreenEdge are one of the team missing from this break, but they have had an exceptional run up until now. They held the jersey for the first seven stages and won three stages too.

There are some strong riders in this front group however, including Daniel Moreno and Nicolas Roche, who are looking to salvage something from this Giro.

The gap to the 14 men has levelled out at five minutes.

Who are your picks for today? Do you think that this break will make it? Tweet us at @Cyclingnewsfeed and @SadhbhOS

Double stage winner Diego Ulissi is reportedly battling on with a bruised knee. He's got a teammate out front, however, in the form of Jan Polanc.

The Giro d'Italia has finished in Savona four times before. The first was in 1969 and the most recent was 1991, which was won by BMC directeur sportif Max Sciandri.

We seem to have mixed thoughts on whether the break will make it today, here is a selection of your tweets.

Today shouldn't see much change in the general classification, but here is a look at how the GC stands at the moment

115km remaining from 249km

Nicolas Roche is in the break today. Want to see the bike he is doing it on? Watch our video of his Specialized Tarmac, here. You can subscribe to Our YouTube channel here.

Ben Swift also showed us his Pinarello Dogma - one of three bikes that he rides - earlier this week. You can watch that here.

The latest time check for the escapees is no 4 minutes, it seems to be coming down as the approach the 100 kilometres to go.

The group of leaders has split into two. Moser, Monselve, Quemeneur and Roche now lead.

100km remaining from 249km

There are a number of teams who missed out on the initial break who will be keen to bring this back together before the finish. Androni Giocattoli, Orica-GreenEdge, Colombia and Garmin-Sharp will want to make something of today.

Today has seen quite a few riders drop out, read a full round-up of the abandons, plus in bed with Thomas Dekker here.

Another rumour spreading through the peloton is that Ivan Basso is looking to leave Cannondale at the end of the year and join forces with Alberto Contador at Tinkoff-Saxo. We will have more details on that later.

As we close in on the second climb of the day, here is a look at the final kilometres of today stage. it's going to come down to who has the best sprint, but it certainly won't be a Bouhanni day today.

86km remaining from 249km

Androni Giocattoli are on the front of the peloton. They're trying to bring this back together. They've been in the break every day, but they missed it today. Johnny Hoogerland is sitting as second man, will he try something?

83km remaining from 249km

Some remonstrating going on at the front of the peloton. A Tinkoff-Saxo rider asked the camera bike to move away, which did not receive a good reception from the Androni rider on the front. Tinkoff-Saxo want this move to stick.

There are a few other riders who look like they've been down on the deck at some point today. Salvatore Puccio (Sky) is missing a large chuck from his shorts, while Dylan van Baarle (Garmin-Sharp) has got a lot of holes in the back of his jersey.

After initially bringing the gap down, the chase seems to have stalled. Androni are still putting in the work on the front.

Crash

BMC's Steve Morabito has gone down. Andrey Zeits (Astana) and Maime Monfort (Lotto-Belisol) have all gone down.

Ben Swift (Sky) has also been involved. It looks like a huge number of the Lotto and Neri Sottoli teams have been involved. It happened just behind the front of the peloton on a relatively narrow stretch of road.

Androni are still pushing along on the front, none of the other teams look like they want to assist them.

Evans has gone up to the front of the peloton and has had a word with the Androni team. It looks like he's asking them to slow down, but they don't look like they're too interest in doing that. Morabito is in a strong GC positioning as well as being one of Evans' main helpers.

70km remaining from 249km

Sky report that Chris Sutton was also involved in that crash. They've had a number of riders on the deck today.

Evans will be hoping that Morabito can make it back. He lost Eijssen yesterday and he won't want to lose any more. We spoke to Evans after yesterday's stage. Watch that here and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

65km remaining from 249km

Omega Pharma-QuickStep are sitting right behind the Androni team, but they're not giving them any help in the chase. They want to keep Uran safe, but they don't car too much whether or not the break is caught.

The escapees are trying to push on. Rovny gives a dig and splits them, but it is all back together. This could be touch and go, still five Androni riders on the front of the peloton.

There is little to gain for the GC riders today. They will be saving themselves from tomorrow and beyond. Tomorrow's stage 12 is the first individual time trial. Watch our preview of what could prove to be a defining stage in the general classification here. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss a single Giro d'Italia video.

It has been confirmed that Enrico Barbin is in the break, rather than Jan Polanc. This is the first time he's been listed as one of the escapees.

Speak of the devil, it is Barbin who takes the points at the intermediate sprint.

53km remaining from 249km

Deignan suffers a puncture in the break.

52km remaining from 249km

We've just had an update from Garmin-Sharp on the condition of Fabian Wegmann. It sounds like a horrific set of injuries for the German.

47km remaining from 249km

41km remaining from 249km

Belkin, BMC and Omega Pharma-QuickStep are all on the front now. The front of the peloton has become two distinct trains.

38km remaining from 249km

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35km remaining from 249km

Bongiorno attacks down the left-hand side of the road.

Roche and Moreno chase the Bardiani rider down.

It is now Roche in the lead but the advantage over the peloton is only 17 seconds.

Arredondo has attacked out of the peloton and he catches some of the lagging group of escapees.

Arredondo took the maximum points in the mountains competition on the first climb. He's still got to catch the leading four if he wants to do that again.

We're onto the steepest section of the climb and Arredondo has caught the four leaders. The peloton are 25 seconds behind them.

The peloton can almost see the leaders. There is around three riders in between the leaders and the peloton.

Arredondo attacks and is chased by Roche

As these two attack, they have managed to extend the gap to the peloton to 40 seconds. They have 11 seconds on the chasers.

Preidler has managed to catch up with Arredondo. The Colombian seems surprised to see the big German behind him. Roche is now struggling behind the two, he'll be praying for the descent now.

Edoardo Zardini attacks from the peloton

Zardini has had a very good season with a victory at the Giro del Trentino last month.

30km remaining from 249km

Zardini has caught a struggling Roche and he sets off after Preidler and Arredondo.

Samuel Sanchez has moved to the front of the peloton to set the pace.

29km remaining from 249km

29km remaining from 249km

Two very different styles on that climb, Arredondo dancing on the pedals as Preidler grinds it out behind him.

It looks like almost all of the former escapees have been caught. Rolland, Losada and Pelizotti have come out of the peloton and are chasing now.

28km remaining from 249km

Zardini is about to get caught by the chasers as they continue to make their way to the top of the climb.

Preidler and Arredondo have also been caught by that group

27km remaining from 249km

BMC trying to bring that group on the descent. At 2:56 back in the GC, Rolland still poses a threat and they won't be comfortable with him being out front.

24km remaining from 249km

Losada is flicking his arm out asking for help on the front, but the others are not interested as they get caught.

Rolland attacks, with Arredondo chasing, but they're just delaying the inevitable.

With everything back together Omega Pharma-QuickStep have taken to the front.

Reports say that Diego Ulissi has been dropped from the peloton. He wasn't looking too good after crashing earlier on. It is a flat finish so it will be one for the faster sprinters

Michael Rogers attacks

Rogers is really going for it on this descent. He was recently cleared to race again after testing positive for Clenbuterol

Rogers has built an advantage of 17 seconds over the peloton.

Good news for Rogers is that there is only around 4km of flat once he reaches the bottom and he can use his time trialling abilities to keep his gap.

16km remaining from 249km

Rogers' advantage has grown to 44 seconds with only 15km to go. Zardini on the front of the peloton doing the chasing.

13km remaining from 249km

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The real test for Rogers will be when this road flattens out. It looks like the peloton have organised themselves now and the advantage is cut down to 25 seconds.

3km remaining from 249km

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1km remaining from 249km

1km remaining from 249km

This looks good for Rogers

He's all alone as he comes into the final 200 metres to go

Rogers wins

Geschke takes the sprint from the peloton

Rogers hugging every body after he crosses the line. This is his first race of the year.

The top 3 for today

And here is the full top 10

Here is what the stage winner Michael Rogers has to say about his victory today

Cadel Evans stays in the pink jersey here is what he had to say about today's stage and tomorrow's time trial.

Here is how the general classification is looking after that stage.

We will have video from today's stage on our YouTube channel later. Make sure to subscribe here so you don't miss anything.

Today's victory is the first for Michael Rogers since the 2012 Bayern-Rundfahrt when he was riding for team Sky.

Tomorrow is the first of two time trials. While the mountain stage will be the most spectacular tomorrow could make the biggest differences to the GC. If he's having a good day, Evans could put more time into his rivals.

The good news today is that all of the general classification riders have finished safely. You will be able to read get the report, results and pictures here.

With regards to tomorrow's stage, you can find our text and video previews of it here.

A few sore riders crossing the line. Orica GreenEdge DS Neal Stephens posted this picture of Chris Anker Sorensen at the finish line.

Here is the stage winner Michael Rogers on the podium.

And Cadel Evans gets to spray the champagne for another day

That is all for us today on stage 11, but you can join us live tomorrow for that crucial time trial and remember to check Cyclingnews.com for all the latest reaction from today's stage and subscribe to our YouTube page for all the latest video.

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