Hello there. We're in Reggio Emilia for the start of stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia. It's another day for the sprinters, with a 167km race to Tortona. The route is completely flat and it's the last chance for a number of sprinters before they apparently leave the Giro.
We start with the biggest news of the day, and that Geraint Thomas has abandoned the 2017 Giro d'Italia. The Welshman has been suffering since his stage 9 crash and despite a reprieve in the time trial, he's lost time in each of the last two stages due to a knee injury.
The news is a blow for Team Sky but more importantly Thomas himself who has spent the last year building up for the Giro. He'll now return to working for Chris Froome at the Tour de France but has vowed to return to the Giro next year.
You can read our complete story on Thomas, plus the thoughts of the man himself, right here.
With Thomas out of the race, this is how the top 15 looks on GC before today's stage:
1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 52:41:08 2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:23 3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:38 4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:02:40 5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:47 6 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:03:05 7 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:56 8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:59 9 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:04:17 11 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:05:19 12 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:06:07 13 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:06:19 14 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:29 15 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:06:52
The roll out is around 15 minutes with the official start 10 minutes after that. We've already had rain today, and although the conditions are dry but overcast, there is a high risk of rain for later in the stage.
The wind is picking up at the start as the sign is completed. Tom Dumoulin is near the front of the bunch as we head towards today's roll out and the neutralized zone.
Most likely we'll see a break form early on before the sprinters' teams take over and lead us to the finish for bunch gallop that everyone is predicting. A lot of chatter that Gaviria is the best sprinter in the race. The likes of Andre Greipel and Caleb Ewan will be looking to boost their statures and get one over the QuickStep Floors rider.
Sunweb forget Geschke at team hotel before Giro d'Italia stage 12 #Giro100 | https://t.co/RgFDbj2Hzf https://t.co/H1FDi7Jwf7
We've rolled out from the start, the CN blimp splutters into life and we're off. The flag will drop in less than five minutes.
And we're racing on stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia and already a wave of attacks from the front as a number of teams looking to ruin the sprinters' party.
One sprinter who has missed out - so far - in the Giro is Bora's Sam Bennett. He's been in the mix on a number of stages but just lacked the finesse to finish things off. Will today be his day as he looks for his first stage in a Grand Tour. He won a great stage in Paris-Nice earlier in the year so he has the speed and the team. He just needs to put all the pieces together. We caught up with him yesterday and this is what he had to say.
Some things you lose, some things you give away, as a 90s band once said but there's little chance of Dumoulin and his Sunweb team letting anything dangerous get up the road today or the race leader allowing the jersey to loaned out. We're far too deep into the race for those shenanigans.
160km remaining from 167km
And just like that the break has gone. All it took was few attacks and the bunch let them go. We've really not had many frantic starts from the bunch in the race.
The leaders are:
Pavel Brutt (Gazprom - Rusvelo) Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates) Vincenzo Albanese (Bardiani CSF) Johann Van Zyl (Dimension Data)
The four men have already built a lead of 2'12 over the peloton.
Johann Van Zyl has been called back to the bunch. They (Di Data), I assume, will need his help in the leadout later on today. That leaves us with three riders, no climbs, 160km, and not much else to talk about...
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Back in the race it's as you were with the three leaders holding out with their 1'52 lead with 151km to go.
The three leaders are unable to draw more time on the peloton. They have a quick chat as they take on turns and they have to measure their output because the bunch will not let them get more than three minutes. That means they need to save something or the second half of the stage - they know that they'll be caught so this is about hanging on for as long as possible.
Vincenzo Albanese is in the break and the youngest rider in the peloton. Born on 12th November 1996 (so he's 20 if you're struggling with the maths).
When he was born Robson and Jerome - What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted was number one in the UK chart.
At the front of the bunch Willier, Sunweb and QuickStep Floors lead the bunch. Willier have come close a few times in this year's race with Jakub Mareczko. Today's a real chance for him again, as he takes on the WorldTour teams. The neutral may well be cheering Mareczko on, if only to see Luca Scinto's temper subside. He's been criticising his riders publicly since the start of the race.
Easy day for Dumoulin? So far, so good. He's near the front and staying safe. As with all the GC men he's looking forward to stage 14 and the summit finish at Oropa. It's a tough little climb and should shake up the top ten. Last night Dane Cash and I previewed the stage, and looked back at 2014 and 1999, when the climb was used to decide two stages. We recorded the conversation, and uploaded it to the internet in a media format everyone is calling Pod-casting. Pod-casting? Podcast. You can listen to it here. It also features Bauke Mollema and Geraint Thomas.
Mohoric has the team car pull alongside him. He's had an interesting career. Was a hugely successful rider at junior and U23 level but at Cannondale he never really found his feet. A move to Lampre followed and then their paying agent was moved to the UAE team. He's still only 22, although it seems like he's been around for ages. I'm just not sure what style of rider he is, whether he's a stage racer, a one-day rider, or an all-rounder.
127km remaining from 167km
127km to go and the gap is at 1'33. No let up from the bunch, not in the slightest.
The bunch are lined out already, despite the distance we still need to travel. All the sprinters know that this is their last chance to win a stage in this year's race, so they're not going to leave anything to chance. Lotto Soudal, QuickStep, and Orica are near the front alongside Terrific Tom Dumoulin and his Sunweb entourage.
123km remaining from 167km
Scinto has called his men off the front as they save their legs for the finale as we see the break up front getting on with the task in hand. Pinot is near the front too with a gaggle of FDJ riders around him.
33 seconds. That's the gap between the peloton and the break. The deal is that there's a lack of firepower up front and the three riders aren't going flat out just to establish a lead of around 3-4 minutes. The break are looking to the bunch to sit up and give them some room. It's in the peloton's interests to let the break get a little bit further up the road.
A shake of the head from Brutt as the peloton finally begin to ease up and the gap goes back out to 51 seconds.
Andre Griepel at the start of today's stage.
112km remaining from 167km
The gap begins to go out once more as the three leaders move out to 1'22. Willier then put a couple of men at the front and that takes a couple more seconds off the advantage.
109km remaining from 167km
Griepel sits on the wheel of his teammate, Adam Hansen, as we see the break tick towards the two-minute mark.
The trio leading have 1'54 over the peloton with 103km to go. Back in the bunch Gaviria is mid-pack and just saving his energy for the sprint finish. It's been an incredible Giro debut for the Colombian and he's already said that he wants to make it all the way to the finish in over a week's time.
We're coming up to the intermediate sprint, so we might be treated to some action as riders compete for the points. The break cross the line with Vincenzo Albanese first - no sprint there - but the bunch have woken up and Gaviria is looking to take fourth and consolidate his lead in the competition.
Not even a competition. Gaviria gets out of the saddle and takes fourth with no competition whatsoever. I think we've just found out which sprinters are going home today and which ones are staying.
Away from the Giro and news in that Jan Ullrich has stepped down from the role of Sporting Director at the Rund um Köln, just four days after his appointment was announced. He put the blame on negative media reports.
According to Ule a few sections of the German media couldn't get to grips with his doping past. That's a shame. Perhaps they needed explaining to them that the sport is full of Ullrich's ex-teammates and rivals. Here's the story.
Meanwhile, Willier, QuickStep and Lotto Soudal occupy the first few positions at the front of the bunch. The gap to the break his holding at 2'10 with 90km to go, so we're almost halfway through the stage.
2'29. That's the biggest gap the break have enjoyed all day. And in another riveting update, Nairo Quintana is eating a banana.
KOM leader Fraile has dropped back to the team cars and picked up a number of bidons for his teammates as we see the gap to the break drop to just 1'09 with 84km to.
It looks like Lagutin has been down on the deck. He's cut his left side as we see him grimace in pain. He's in the bunch so it must have happened much earlier in the stage.
Through Piacenza now as the bunch once more strings out as we see GC teams and sprint teams look to take control. 77km to go as we have breaking news coming in from Bardiani...
Bardiani riders, Stefano Pirazzi and Nicola Ruffoni both returned positive doping tests on the eve of the Giro in out-of-competition tests. News has come in that the team has started proceedings to dismiss both riders. More to come...
Is the Giro d'Italia still a wide open race and can current race leader, Tom Dumoulin, hold out against the pure climbers in the mountains? They're the main topics of discussion on the latest Cyclingnews podcast as Dane Cash and Daniel Benson dissect and analysis the overall standings ahead of Saturday's crucial mountain stage to Oropa.
Tom Dumoulin tops the race with a healthy advantage over his main rivals but Nairo Quintana leads the charge as the climbers look to battle back after Dumoulin's demolition in the individual time trial.
More of an effort now from Lotto Soudal as they move up and bring their sprinter with them. Theres still over a third of the stage to go as we see the lead level out at 1'45 with 63km to go.
Through the feedzone and Sunweb teammates offer up a selection of appetisers for race leader Dumoulin as he concentrates on staying out of trouble. Willier still have that one rider on the front as we dip inside the final 60km of racing.
Hello Orica Scott, there you are.
For the first time today we see a teammate of Caleb Ewan move up and start to join the pace setting. The Australian has already won a stage but he'll be desperate to leave this race with one more win under his belt. He's got the speed but a bit like Bennett, he needs a perfectly clear run at the line.
The riders hit a gentle uphill drag with cobbles as we head towards the final 50km of the stage. The gap between the break and the peloton is at 1'26, with 53.4km to go.
Still three riders ahead with a gap of 1'30" on the peloton w/ all black&yellows in it. A bit more than 50km to go.… https://t.co/KbznZeax33
Wilier have committed a cluster of riders to the chase in a bid to set up their sprinter later on. There's no real reason for them to work this hard, however. There are plenty of stronger teams with more responsibility to chase, although saying that Bora, Lotto, QuickStep and Orica have all won stages in this year's race.
A reminder of where things stand on GC heading into the stage. We're not expecting any changes today, although Saturday's mountain stage should alter the situation dramatically.
1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 52:41:08 2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:23 3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:38 4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:02:40 5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:47 6 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:03:05 7 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:56 8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:59 9 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:04:17
One more bit of news. LottoNL Jumbo have told the press that they were not impressed with Victor Campenaerts' stunt during the time trial. He was told to soft pedal around the route and save his legs, which he did. Only he used the ride to get a date... more economical and certainly healthier than Tinder (I'd suspect, I don't know) but it didn't go down too well with the bosses on the team.
40km remaining from 167km
40km to go and the gap is at 1'32 as the gap drops slightly to 1'32. We're at another intermediate sprint and here comes Gaviria to take fourth. That points jersey will be his, surely.
Away from the Giro, Cannondale Drapac won a WorldTour race. The last time they did so cycling was in black and white, but congratulations to Andrew Talansky who came out on top on Mt. Baldy at the Tour of California. You can read about the American's win, right here.
An easy day for Sunweb as the sprinters' teams control the pace as we head towards the final 32km of the stage. FDJ sit on the far left and keep Pinot safe and sound and yet more and more Willier riders shimmy to the front.
Landa is back with the Team Sky car for a natter with Dario Cioni. The Spaniard will be looking to win stages in the final week of the race, but so much depends on how he has recovered from this Blockhaus crash.
30km remaining from 167km
30km to go and the gap is at 52 seconds.
If you're just joining us, Stefano Pirazzi and Nicola Ruffoni, have had their contracts torn up and Bardiani are in the process of sacking both riders after they tested positive in April. Full story, is here.
27km remaining from 167km
37 seconds now for the three leaders with 27km to go.
And now the pace slows at the front of the bunch, as they have no intention of catching the break until they're at the 10km mark.
The bunch can see the break as they hit a long stretch of flat road but they're forced to knock the pace off dramatically as they fan out across the road.
22km remaining from 167km
22k to go and the break are about to be put out of their misery. All together as we head towards a predicted sprint finish.
And now a race break out as the fight for position begins. Bahrain are there with Nibali, FDJ huddle around Pinot and the sprinters elbow their way into contention. Trek suddenly show up as well with Mollema and perhaps Stuyven in their thoughts.
There's a split and around 20 riders have been dropped as we see Visconti weave and wind his way to the front of the bunch.
18km remaining from 167km
No sign from QuickStep at this point, although they do have two men near the front. There are a couple more splits starting to appear as the pace is fast but manageable.
Dumoulin is dropped off right at the front of the bunch and just to Nibali's right. Perfect from the Sunweb team.
It's Nibali's Bahrain team who now set the pace as we close in on the final 15km of today's stage.
Lotto Soudal push to the front with Greipel. Will they be able to keep their cohesion? That's been their undoing in a number of sprint finishes so far. Bora are also there, with Bennett riding last man.
12km remaining from 167km
Once again the pace drops off and QuickStep use that as an opportunity to move to the front swiftly. Gaviria in around 20th place at the moment.
10km remaining from 167km
Fraile has a mechanical and has to stop as Movistar, Astana and now Sunweb move up. 10km to go.
Dumoulin is just off the front as he looks to remain out of trouble. Well placed,sir.
Greipel, Gaviria, Bennett, Ewan... the fastmen are still in contention as the pace once again drops off as we hit another wide section of road.
7km to go as once again the pace drops. We need a team to pick up the pace but there's headwind and that's putting every team off from hitting the front too early.
Both Lotto and QuickStep are holding back until the last possible moment.
Cannondale have hit the front with 4.8km to go.
It's a technical run-in with a number of roundabouts and tight turns as Bora set the pace with Astana and Katusha.
Attack and it's Pozzato.
It's not really an attack, I think he just wanted to make the pace and hit the front and just created a gap with his turn of speed.
3km to go and now QuickStep and Bora go head-to-head.
2km to go and here comes Ewan, on the back of the Orica Scott train.
Greipel is quite far back but Bennett and Gaviria are well placed. 1.5km to go.
Here comes Greipel. 1km to go.
Gaviria is on Griepel's wheel.
It's all breaking up as Bora attack..
Final roundabout.
Bennett and Gaviria come around the final corner. This is going to be close.
Ewan is in the mix but can he get back on terms?
Bennett hits out first.
Gaviria has to come from a long way around.
Gaviria is coming back to Bennet.
Gaviria takes the stage win, and Bennett has to settle for second. Incredible sprint from Gaviria. He looked out of his with 400m to go but he seemed to kick twice to take the win.
Ewan collided with a QuickStep rider and that might be something for the race jury to look at but there's no doubting Gaviria. He effectively had to open his sprint from around 500m out.
It was his momentum that was key but he had to close gaps, in the wind, before coming around Bennett. Stuyven was third with Ewan and Greipel well down in the top ten.
Here are your top ten for today's stage:
1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors 3:47:45 2 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 3 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 4 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 5 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data 6 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 7 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 8 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 9 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 10 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
General classification after stage 13 1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 1/2/00 8:28 2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:23 3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:38 4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:02:40 5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:47 6 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:03:05 7 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:56 8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:59 9 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:04:17
Gaviria is making his way to the podium now and it's handshakes all round for the four time stage winner. The incredible Giro debut continues.
Surely the race organisers will look at Richeze. Gaviria would have won regardless but there was a blatant move into Ewan as the Australian came around him. Looked dangerous and totally unnecessary.
Gaviria: "It was difficult but thanks to my team we pulled it off and got another victory. Yes, I'm the Colombian with the most Giro stage wins but that doesn't mean much. It means I prepared well for the Giro."
Gaviria on the podium for the fourth time after taking another Giro stage win.
| @FndoGaviria makes it 4 stages at the @giroditalia Full results and report at https://t.co/7ZAGozxLIP Photo:… https://t.co/X1KNS6rAsP
Not sure how many sprinters will be left after today's stage - a number are reportedly going home, but here are the standings in the points classification:
1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors 315 pts 2 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 192 3 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 144 4 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 117 5 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 108 6 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 98 7 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data 86 8 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data 76 9 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina 73 10 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 70
We already have a report, race images, and full results, right here.
More from today's stage winner: It’s been a different sprint today and a difficult sprint indeed but thanks to my team I managed to go back up and win one more stage. I’m now the Colombian with most stage victories at the Giro but it doesn’t mean much. To me it means that I came to the Giro well prepared.
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb): The wind made me nervous sometimes. For most of the day it was side wind. In the finale it was more side head wind. But I was very well protected by the team so it was another good day for us. I think Oropa is a climb that suits me well so I hope to be in the Maglia Rosa again on Sunday.
In Luke Tuckwell's latest column for Cyclingnews, he recalls his memorable week in France, and how he went from tears in training to his first yellow jersey
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