Giro d'Italia 2018: Stage 13

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January 1 - May 27, Ferrara, Italy, Road - GT

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Cyclingnews Films presents: CRESCENDO - the finale of the Giro
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Giro d'Italia 2018: Race preview
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Hello there and welcome to the Cyclingnews live race centre for stage 13 of the 2018 Giro d'Italia. You're all looking forward to this weekend's stages, I assume, but first we have this almost pan-flat stage from Ferrara to Nervesa della Battaglia. 

Riders and teams have all arrived in Ferrara and are going through the usual pre-race drills. The stage is due to get underway at 13.00 local time. 

Before we get going, here's a re-cap of yesterday's action. Sam Bennett exuded supreme confidence as he launched a remarkable long-range sprint (or was it more of a solo attack?) on the Imola motro racing track. Report, results, photos all here...

It shouldn't be a GC day (I say that cautiously), but here's how things stand overall. 

They're off

One non-starter today, and that's Astana's Tanel Kangert, who struggled through yesterday's stage but has now decided to pull the plug. Here's a statement from the team. 

After a few kilometres of attacking, it seems we now have our breakaway. In there are five riders, with the Italian Pro Conti teams predictable well represented. 

The breakaway riders

The five breakaway riders quickly open a lead of 3:30.

153km remaining from 180km

It's Quick-Step and Bora-Hansgrohe doing the work - the teams of Elia Viviani and Sam Bennett, respectively. 

A big story currently developing is that the BMC Racing team could be saved by Deloitte, who are reportedly coming on board as title sponsor. Here's the full story.

It's not exactly happy families in the break. Marcato and Irizar are currently remonstrating with one another over something or other. 

Irizar's clearly not happy about something - he's just dropped back to the race official's car for another argument. 

With a pretty sleepy day in prospect on the road here, why not get excited about our next film? You might remember our debut production THE HOLY WEEK, and now we return for our second effort, CRESCENDO. It will focus on the final week of this Giro d'Italia, with behind-the-scenes access to capture the raw emotion and daily drama of Grand Tour racing. 

It's Bora's Cesare Benedetti who's doing all the work in these early kilometres. The unhappy breakaway rolls on three minutes up the road. 

We're heading north here and will be revisiting some of the roads of the 1985 World Championships. Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk won that day ahead of Greg LeMond and Moreno Argentin. 

After a fairly quick start the pace has settled down and we could be stuck in this pattern for some time yet. Bora and Quick-Step continue to lead the peloton and the fact that it's still lined out indicates it's not exactly slow, but it's certainly relaxed as they keep the gap at three minutes.

118km remaining from 180km

Here's how things stand in the intermediate sprints classification. With a maximum of 10 points on offer at each of the two sprints, Vendrame could make inroads but will be unable to topple the top two. Still, they're his teammates, and an all-Androni top three would be a nice reflection of their commitment to the breaks at this Giro.

111km remaining from 180km

Feed zone. Not for the riders. I'm going to hand over to my colleague Sadhbh O'Shea while I get myself some lunch. 

Hello, Sadhbh here. Bora-Hansgrohe head the bunch with one rider and Quick-Step Floors behind. They've got the gap pegged at 2:50 at the moment.

Today, on paper, should be a sprint finish. We've had four bunch finishes so far, though yesterday was not you're average group gallop, with Viviani and Bennett taking two apiece. Viviani has not won a stage since the race returned to Italy and he will want to get something on the board today. As he pointed out ahead of the stage, this is his first Grand Tour since 2016. Perhaps he is feeling the stresses of a Grand Tour more keenly than Bennett and others. 

Of course, the ciclamino points jersey could be up for grabs today. Viviani has led the competition since his win on stage 2 and has been mopping up intermediate points along the way. However, Bennett made some serious inroads into Viviani's lead yesterday with the Italian missing the sprint altogether. Just 22 points separate the pair at the top of the standings. 

91km remaining from 180km

On the other side of the Atlantic, the Tour of California is gong on. Tejay van Garderen heads into today's test to South Lake Tahoe as the race leader. He's expecting a big battle ahead if he hopes to keep a hold of his yellow jersey. Read his full comments here.

Viviani has been back to the car and he now has Sabatini shepherding him back to the bunch. Natneal Berhane is making the most of the small train to get himself back into the bunch. The pace isn't high, so there is no stress for them. 

As well as California, there is racing going on in Norway with the Tour of Norway. LottoNL-Jumbo rider Lars Boom will be heading home early from that race, however, after he punched another rider. Check out the full story, here.

That's my brief spell over. I'm going to hand you back to Patrick Fletcher for the rest of today's stage. 

Hello again. Indonesian fried rice from Bristol's street food market, if you're asking, and disappointing.

Paolo Simion must hail from Martellago. The Bardiani CSF rider is allowed off the front of the peloton to wave to the crowds that have come out in force. 

67km remaining from 180km

Eros Capecchi comes to the front of the peloton tok break the Benedetti/Cavagna duopoly we've seen for pretty much the whole day so far. 3:05 the gap with 60km to go as we come into Treviso. 

'There are no easy days at the Giro', says Simon Yates. But this is just about the most relaxed situation he could have asked for. Things will soon intensify, of course, and he'll have to be alert on the late climb as well as doing his best to stay away from any potential crashes, but so far this is the quiet day all the GC riders were hoping for ahead of the mighty Monte Zoncolan tomorrow. 

We hit Villorba and here comes the second of our intermediate sprints.

52km remaining from 180km

Back in the peloton Elia Viviani clips off the front of the peloton to claim the remaining points and nudge that little bit further clear of Bennett in the Maglia Ciclamino standings. 

Confidence... that priceless commodity. After years of doubting himself and beating himself up, it seems Sam Bennett has it now. He finally broke his Grand Tour duck here on stage 7 - had he not, he might not have shown the boldness he did in winning yesterday's stage in spectacular fashion. 

I suppose this is the point where I should start asking if Bennett's going to make it three, or if Viviani's going to make it three... Or is it unfair to bill this as a two-horse race? Who else takes your fancy?

35km remaining from 180km

The pace has picked up in the peloton as they head into Nervesa della Battaglia, where clouds are and looming and darkening. They'll cross the finish line before taking on this 30km finishing circuit with the Montello climb. 

30km remaining from 180km

This is the lay of the land from the finish line to the top of the climb. 

As the road rises, the attacks begin in the peloton. Tony Martin has punched clear with four others. 

Krists Neilands of Milan-San Remo fame is one of the riders who bridged across, and now he makes a dig of his own. It's down to four as a Bora representative slips back.

With Martin and Neilands are Quick-Step's Eros Capecchi, who probably won't contribute, and a rider from Androni, obviously. 

Martin folds his arms over his bars and takes it up. It's Davide Ballerini for Androni and eventually he comes through for a turn. Their advantage is only a slim one as EF-Drapac and Bora lead the chase.

23km remaining from 180km

A few drops of rain now as the five breakaway riders come into the final couple of kilometres of the climb. 

Mitch Docker is off the road after a crash. He's ok, but he won't be able to help Sacha Modolo here.

Marcato drives it on out of the saddle and leads the break towards the KOM point.

Meanwhile Thibaut Pinot's FDJ teammates take control in the peloton.

20km remaining from 180km

We now head downhill for a gentle but fast run back into town. 

The breakaway will be able to stem the tide and hang onto their advantage on this downhill section, but the road does level out with around 10km to go, and that's surely when the game will be up. 

The sprinters' teams aren't taking it up just yet. It's still FDJ on the front, and the gap goes out to 25 seconds once more. 

Bahrain-Merida take it up now. They have GC rider Domenico Pozzovivo to keep safe but will also looking to tee up Niccolo Bonifazio, who finished third yesterday. 

Still more than 20 seconds for the five leaders...

12km remaining from 180km

10km remaining from 180km

Katusha take it up now en masse. 

Katusha's Baptiste Planckaert finished fourth yesterday, and is clearly confident in doing something today. 

8km remaining from 180km

The gap is down to 10 seconds. It doesn't look like we'll be treated to an upset. 

Tony Martin, on the attack earlier, is now drilling it on the front for Katusha. 

Irizar looks over his shoulder and gestures as if to squeeze every last drop out of his companions. But over the other shoulder he can see the rapidly advancing peloton...

6km remaining from 180km

They've been out front all day but the race quickly forgets about them and the peloton continues its single-file march to the finish.

5km remaining from 180km

Here's what we're dealing with

Katusha, Quick-Step, LottoNL. That's the order of the teams at the moment. No sign of Bora.

Bennett is likely to seek out the wheel of Viviani as he did on stage 7.

And that's exactly where Bennett is already. 

The bunch spreads across the road now as Bahrain-Merida and LottoNL impose themselves. 

Bahrain take it up properly now as we go through the 3km to go banner. That's the safety net for the GC men. 

2km remaining from 180km

It's a relatively sedate pace for the finale of a sprint stage...

FDJ and Mitchelton-Scott on the front, weirdly. But now LottoNL crack and take it up with five riders for Van Poppel. 

Stybar moves onto Viviani's wheel. Will he try and keep Bennett off it?

1km remaining from 180km

Could this be a huge upset?!

Bahrain on the front now but there's a big gap...

400m to go and LottoNL start to lead out

He's going to get caught.

Modolo opens it up

But here comes Viviani.... and he takes it!

Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) wins stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia

Bennett was second there, Van Poppel third.

A fine sprint from Viviani to take his third win of this Giro. A teammate dropped him off on the wheel of Modolo, who went very early to close down the Wilier rider - perhaps inspired by Bennett yesterday? Viviani showed his track skills to squeeze through a gap and he surged past Modolo convincingly, punching the air as he crossed the line. 

Past the line Viviani had barely slowed when he jumped off his bike, which fell to the ground, and in to the arms of his soigneur. The soigneur was celebrating while hugging him but Viviani was standing there deadpan. He looked pumped for that. 

Top 10

No change on GC

It was indeed Viviani and Bennett in the front two positions. Bennett looked out of it but produced an impressive sprint to make up ground and take second. Modolo's frustration was clear for all to see, the Italian repeatedly bashing his bars in frustration as he crossed the line. 

Here's a first finish line shot

Let's hear from Viviani

'No discussion who's the fastest,' writes Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere as he posts a video of the sprint on Instagram. Well, Sam Bennett seemingly sees it differently. Here's what he said when Eurosport grabbed him for a second past the finish there. 

@giroditalia: @eliaviviani is the first Italian with 3 stage wins in the same Giro since 2008 (@Benna80) #Giro #Giro101

 

Here we see Viviani's victory salute. Before punching the air he made a this 'calm down' gesture. It seems he felt he'd been unfairly written off after a bad day yesterday and after Bennett had drawn level on two stage wins. My colleagues Barry Ryan and Stephen Farrand are currently with Viviani in his post-race press conference, so we'll have a full story on the Italian shortly. 

Here's our report page, where you can find results and photos.

Simon Yates said yesterday that there are no easy days at the Giro, but maybe he's revising that now. 

Thoughts quickly turn away from that sprint and towards the imposing figure of Monte Zoncolan. There'll be a few nerves overnight...

"If I think about Zoncolan, the idea of legend comes in my mind. It’s a legendary climb and who wins there deserves a place as legend of the Giro," says Fabio Aru. 

Want all our flash post-stage quotes in one handy place? Here you go...

That's it for our live coverage today. We'll be back again right here all day tomorrow, and with Zoncolan on the menu, I assume you'll be joining us again. In the meantime, we'll have all the talking points covered with stories from the guys in Nervesa della Battaglia, or you could even tune into our live coverage of the Tour of California, starting soon. Either way, I'll leave you with this shot of Viviani. Back with a vengeance. 

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