Giro d'Italia 2015: Stage 13

Welcome to live coverage of the Giro d'Italia stage 13 from Montecchio Maggiore to Jesolo.

Welcome to stage 13 and it looked like it's an unlucky one for the riders with another rainy day ahead.

Today is about as flat as it gets, especially for the Giro d'Italia. Don't believe me? Here's a look at today's profile.

While it might be flat, there are plenty of factors that could throw a spanner in the work for any stage hopefuls, as Stephen Farrand explains in his stage preview.

Philippe Gilbert was the rider who came up trumps yesterday as he powered away to victory on the final climb. The riders who followed him over the line made for an interesting read, as you can see for yourself.

1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team 4:22:50
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:03
3 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
4 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
5 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani CSF
6 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
7 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:06
8 Carlos Betancur (Col) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Soudal
10 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team

Yesterday's result had a small impact on the GC but could it be a sign of what's to come in the tougher weekend stages?

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 51:17:06
2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:17
3 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:55
4 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:30
5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:55
6 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:02:19
7 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 0:02:21
8 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:02:29
9 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:02:38
10 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:02:44

You can watch highlights of yesterday's stage here and don't forget to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel.

@giroditalia Fri, 22nd May 2015 12:32:20

Ahead of the Giro d'Italia we put together a list of sprinters to watch, which you can view here. André Greipel seems to be the top favourite for today but we want to know your predictions. Let us know on twitter at @Cyclingnewsfeed or @SadhbhOS.

The last of the riders have signed on for today's stage and we should be underway for the neutralised section momentarily.

One rider who will be happy to make the start today is IAM Cycling's Stef Clement. The Dutchman crashed yesterday but got back on his bike and rode to the finish. He came across the line over 17 minutes down and then had to battle through the crowds to make it to doping control.

It took so long that there was no body to administer his test and he was left worrying that he could face a two-year suspension for missing a test. Read the full story here.

The peloton are still making their way through the neutralised section, all decked out in their rain gear. Racing is expected to begin in 5 minutes,

Clement wasn't the only rider to fall hard yesterday with Gerrans coming down on a slippery corner. He finished the day but said afterwards that he would leave the race. You can read the full story here.

CCC Sprandi's Jarosław Marycz also hit the deck yesterday. Once he had been seen by the medical staff he tweeted "I dont remember nothink. But im ok!only looks worse that it is. Im lucky this all medical staff was great!! Thx 4 al2 and it was accompanied by this photo.

The start proper has been given.

Yesterday we saw a very fast start to the day with the peloton nullifying the breakaway attempts before they really got going. It was 70 kilometres before we finally had a break. Will it be the same today?

It seems not maybe. We have our first break attempt of the day with Rick Zabel (BMC), Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli), Jerome Pineau (IAM Cycling), Bert De Backer (Giant-Alpecin) and Arnaud Courteille (FDJ).

Four of the riders have been caught with Pineau the only rider out front.

It looks like Zabel and Frapporti have gone again and they are now with Pinaeu. They have a 15 second gap on the peloton.

Riccardo Stacchiotti (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Mauro Finetto (Southeast) are trying to bridge the gap.

@beeojay Fri, 22nd May 2015 12:28:11

131km remaining from 147km

Stacchiotti and Finetto have both been caught by the peloton. Two riders remain out front.

131km remaining from 147km

Stacchiotti and Finetto have both been caught by the peloton. Three riders remain out front.

129km remaining from 147km

The three out front are building their advantage now and they have 40 seconds on the peloton after 18km.

Ever wondered how Philippe Gilbert lives his bike set up? Take a closer look at the bike that he's using during the Giro d'Italia in this exclusive video and don't forget to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channe.

126km remaining from 147km

After 21km the three escapees have 1:30 on the peloton.

121km remaining from 147km

The gap continues to grow to the escapees, they now have 2:24 over the peloton.

The organisers confirm that 183 riders set out this morning, with Simon Gerrans not taking the start line. There were a number of other riders who abandoned after and during yesterday's stage including Stefan Kung (who went on the attack in stage 11). The BMC rider fractured vertebrae in a late crash yesterday.

@saddleblaze Fri, 22nd May 2015 13:36:05

108km remaining from 147km

The peloton are keeping the escapees close, they've learned their lesson, and the gap is currently hovering around 2 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, Lotto-Soudal are doing a lot of the work on the front of the peloton. They're being given a helping hand by Giant-Alpecin at the moment.

As the peloton rides tempo why not amuse yourself with coming up with a caption for this photo of Fabio Aru from yesterday.

100km remaining from 147km

There are 100km remaining of this stage. It might be flat but there are plenty of things, including the rain, that could trip riders up. Read Stephen Farrand's preview of today's stage.

The breakaway have been stopped by the officials as they wait for a train to pass. The riders see the funny side though and crack some jokes with the officials.

After a wait of a couple of minutes, the break have been let go again and the officials are now doing their best to slow the peloton to allow the breakaway regain their advantage.

98km remaining from 147km

After that little stall in the action, the breakaway have managed to bring their gap back up to over a minute but it's below what they had when they had to stop.

Tom Boonen is a potential contender for today's stage. The Belgian is still looking for a stage win. He's got other things on his mind at the Giro with contract negotiations ongoing with his Etixx-QuickStep team. Boonen told Cyclingnews that he had no intention of leaving the team he has spent almost his whole career with. Read the full article here.

91km remaining from 147km

The gap is slowly going back up again. With 91km to go the three men out front have 1:22 on the peloton.

It's definitely a day for the sprinters but which one will come up trumps? Let us know your predictions on twitter and we'll post them here. You can find us at @Cyclingnewsfeed or @SadhbhOS

The break has just gone through the intermediate sprint. Frapporti takes the full points, followed by Zabel. Nizzolo wins the sprint from the bunch.

@DavidMcleanCycl Fri, 22nd May 2015 14:13:32

@owentcharles Fri, 22nd May 2015 14:13:33

If a stage win isn't incentive enough for Elia Viviani, he has an extra one today. The team Sky rider is from the Venteo region where the race is travelling through today. Will that be the extra boost he needs in the sprint finish?

Fabio Aru will be hoping that he can have a better day today. The Italian lost time to Contador in the final climb of stage 12. Afterwards, Aru said that he had suffered from the hunger knock in the finale.

Astana general manager Giuseppe Martinelli spoke to television reporters this morning. Martinelli was happy that Aru managed to limit his losses yesterday.

"Fabio had a difficult day he paid for it towards the end he didn’t eat that well and I think we’re paying for the change of temperatures.You can always lose a few seconds to Contador of course if you can limit the damage to only 11 seconds then it’s not that bad," said Martinelli.

"No we’re going to go day by day tomorrow will be a very good test and this it will give us a few indicators for the rest of the Giro d’Italia and from Sunday we’re in the mountains, we’ll take it from there."

73km remaining from 147km

The escapees are approaching the next intermediate sprint and they have just 1:12 on the bunch. The gap has hardly changed recently.

Zabel and Frapporti go head to head for the intermediate sprint. It's the young German that takes is this time.

Points classification leader Nicola Boem takes the sprint behind the escapees. He really wants to keep hold of his red jersey.

@CefnforBrighidK Fri, 22nd May 2015 14:17:57

There are a number of teams working on the front. Lotto-Soudal are right at the front with help from Giant-Alpecin and Lampre-Merida. Tinkoff-Saxo are sitting just behind the sprinters' teams.

If you haven't had a chance to watch this video of Philippe Gilbert's bike why not do it now? It's the same model that is being ridden by Zabel in the breakaway at the moment

57km remaining from 147km

The gapfell below a minute for a brief while until Cheng of Giant-Alpecin asked the teams to step off the gas so they wouldn't catch this break too early and it goes back up to 1:04. Let's take this chance to quickly look at our three escapees.

First up is Rick Zabel. The son of former sprinter Erik Zabel, the German is actually the youngest rider in the race. This is his first Grand Tour and his first time in the break. Zabel turned professional with BMC last season and is a former junior Tour of Flanders winner.

Next up is the Frenchman Jerome Pineau. The IAM Cycling rider has been a professional since 2002, riding with Bonjour and QuickStep before joining IAM Cycling last season. Pineau won a stage of the Giro d'Italia in 2010 along with the most aggressive rider competition. He's also a former holder of the mountains jersey at the Tour de France.

Last but not least is Marco Frapporti, who has already been in the break before during this year's Giro d'Italia. He has been riding with Androni since 2013 and this is Frapporti's fourth Giro d'italia, but he is yet to take a stage win.

49km remaining from 147km

As we dip under the 50km to go marker the gap has been brought back to under a minute and now stands at just 47 seconds.

@TopperJK Fri, 22nd May 2015 14:54:26

This year's Giro d'Italia has seen a lot of teams using on-board cameras on certain stages. Movistar was one such team to do it during yesterday's stage 12 and you can watch the results here.

43km remaining from 147km

Luca Paolini has dropped back to the car for a change of glasses. Plenty of riders have been dropping back to remove layers as they gear up for the finale.

Andre Greipel is one of the riders who have taken off their rain jackets. The Gorilla looks ready for business.

The Giro d'Italia may not have finished yet but, like so many of the riders, we're already preparing for the Tour de France. Get ready for the Grand Boucle with the official programme, which is available to pre-order right now.

33km remaining from 147km

Sky have started moving towards the front, they're riding alongside Tinkoff-Saxo at the moment just behind the main sprinters' teams. Sky have a dual goal today, deliver Viviani to victory and keep Porte safe.

31km remaining from 147km

The gap is still hovering around a minute, not long before the break really start shutting this down.

The rain has been falling hard throughout today's stage and the roads will be very slick in the finale. There are a couple of twists and turns in the finale that the riders will have to be careful of. We can expect to see the GC teams getting in the mix later as they try to keep their leaders safe.

Andrey Amador has a mechanical problem but he's got a new bike and sent on his way very quickly.

We'll have highlights of today's stage later this afternoon on our Youtube channel. Why not subscribe so you get it first and you can watch highlights of the previous stages plus more while you're over there.

As we approach 20km to go yet more riders are removing layers. Alberto Contador is not one of those and he's got his maglia rosa under wraps for now.

21km remaining from 147km

The riders are on a long stretch of straight road and the peloton can almost see the escapees up the road as the gap drops to 27 seconds.

20km remaining from 147km

All of the support vehicles have been ordered out of the gap and it's not long until these three men are brought back. They've been out there almost since the flag dropped at 2pm this afternoon.

17km remaining from 147km

Handshakes have been exchanged and the break have been reeled in

@giroditalia Fri, 22nd May 2015 15:41:38

14km remaining from 147km

The peloton are all stung out with Tinkoff-Saxo now setting the pace on the front. Movistar are just behind them.

Movistar do have a contender for today with Juan Jose Lobato but he's definitely an outside bet for the victory.

12km remaining from 147km

There were rumours that there would be crosswinds at the finish today but it hasn't appeared yet.

@nyvelocity Fri, 22nd May 2015 15:44:53

10km remaining from 147km

Sky and Tinkoff-Saxo are currently riding with opposing trains at the front of each side of the peloton. Just 10km remaining.

No escape attempts yet as Tinkoff set a very high pace. That might change when they make an about turn towards the finish.

There are plenty of road bumps for the peloton to tackle in this finale, probably the most climbing they've done all day.

7km remaining from 147km

A mass of teams moving to the front, Tinkoff, Astana, Trek Factory, Sky and LottoNL have all got people up the front. It's a real battle for position.

6km remaining from 147km

Trek now lead the bunch. There's a lot of standing water still out on the road.

@giroditalia Fri, 22nd May 2015 15:53:20

The peloton is all strung out as they approach a roundabout, it's Alafaci on the front for Trek Factory Racing.

4km remaining from 147km

GreenEdge start moving to the front for the first time. They're working for Matthews after they lost Gerrans yesterday.

Elia Viviani will have to use another team's leadout as he's only got one teammate with him at the moment.

3km remaining from 147km

Petacchi is sitting behind the Trek train, he's got no teammates for company.

Crash

That was a big crash , which began on the left of the peloton just outside the 3km to go

Looks like Contador may have been involved in that

1km remaining from 147km

Porte was also caught by that crash. He's making his way back to the bunch

Lampre Merida are now on the front. Lotto have disappeared.

Flamme rouge

Lampre still have three riders

Modolo wins

Porte is still chasing on as Contador crosses the lineover 30 seconds down.

It was touch and go as to whether that crash happened inside or outside of the final 3km

Richie Porte crosses the line over two minutes down on the leadering group. This is a disaster for the Sky rider.

We're still waiting on confirmation of the general classification but here is how the stage finished today.

1 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida 03:03:08
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
4 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha
5 Eduard Michael Grosu (Rou) Nippo-Vini Fantini
6 Axel Maximiliano Richeze
7 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
8 Nicola Ruffoni (ITA) Bardiani
9 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant-Alpecin
10 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling
 

A graphic has come up with Aru leading his teammate Landa by 1:14 in the overall classification while Contador seems to have dropped out of the top 3. We'll wait for further confirmation on that though.

We're still waiting for full confirmation of the GC but we do know that Aru is in pink now. Head to our report which will be updated with information as soon as we have it and tune in tomorrow for stage 14.