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Giro d'Italia - *Forlì - Carpi

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0km - Daniele Bennati takes it from Cavendish, McEwen is third, Koldo Fernandez fourth, and Paolo Bettini fifth!! A great sprint finish, and the tightest possible defeat for Mark Cavendish. Thanks for following our LIVE coverage and join us tomorrow for stage 13!
0km - A very early sprint helps McEwen to get the advantage, Bennati goes right, McEwen left and the Italian is in front with Cavendish third on the Australian's wheel.... And the Manchester native powers ahead of McEwen but can't seem to overtake Bennati... It's incredibly close at the line... A matter of one millimetre maybe, and it's a photo finish! We're going to have to wait for the result...
1km - Wiggins still pulling very well for Cavendish. Paolo Bettini also moves to the front.... ONE KM TO GO!! Two nasty left hand turns coming up.
2km - Robbie McEwen very nicely positioned behind Cavendish, and Bennati is well-placed behind the Australian. TWO KM TO GO!!
3km - Tinkoff have moved to the front as well. Their main sprinter, Loddo, is already out of this race so I'm curious as to what they're doing.
4km - Bradley Wiggins and Pinotti move to the front for Cavendish, a big High Road train is forming.....
7km - Two High Road men also at the front, forming the train for Cavendish. David Millar is there too for Slipstream. The Scot obviously won't play any part in this final sprint though.
10km - World champion Paolo Bettini at the front with his Quick Step team. Milram is at the back, trying to tow Erik Zabel back into the peloton after he dropped out. The finish line has been moved three kilometres closer today, and we are headed for a mass sprint. The rain continues to fall and Galparsoro is caught by the peloton after 163km of solo riding!
15km - A crash in the bunch causes about eight or nine riders to go down! At least two of them are High Road riders.... Bad news for fans of support for Mark Cavendish. Stage six winner Matteo Priamo is also among the victims.
16km - Quick Step and Visconti still very much at the front, with the other Belgian squad Silence Lotto also taking the lead.
18km - All of the sprinter teams move to the front of the peloton to try to position their men. The gap is down to 45 seconds.
20km - Apparently not, the gap is down to 57 seconds as the peloton rolls through the cobbled streets of Solieara.
25km - The rain is starting to hammer down again, as Quick Step move to the front of the peloton. Could the weather be Galparsoro's saving grace?
30km - The rain seems to be slowing down a bit, but it's definitely still slick out there.
35km - Gap down to 2'11". The sprinter teams should start to up the pace agani.
40km - With 40km to go the gap to Galparsoro is 2'25".
44km - The escapee has just passed through Maranello, and the dark skies do not bode well. Yesterday's stage was marred by a series of crashes, including break-away member Fortunato Baliani's terrible fall in the final kilometre which cost him a chance at victory. Hopefully things won't get so bad today.
50km - The rain is starting to come down and the sleeveless rain capes, or ponchos as they're sometimes known, are starting to come out.
55km - Average speed after three hours of riding slowed significantly : 39,600 km/h.
56km - The gap is down to 3'15", it was a good ride while it lasted.
61km - Puncture for Danilo Di Luca (LPR), who is quickly back on his bike and back with the peloton.
63km - The gap is down to 4'40".....
64km - The sprint teams keep pushing. The gap is down to five minutes.
85km - Average speed after two hours of riding : 41,500 km/h.
86km - The gap has dropped to eight minutes, and while it's impossible to predict whether or not this break-away will go the distance, it does not at all seem likely.
102km - The gap shrinks to 10 minutes.
105km - Galparsoro has ridden 67 kilometres on his own and the peloton is beginning to get antsy. Led by the sprinter teams Liquigas and Milram, the gap has been closed to 11'50".
125km - The gap is up to 14 minutes.... If this keeps going the sprinter teams might want to start thinking about doing something in the next hour or so.
135km - 10'20" between the solo escapee and the pink jersey after 47km.
142km - The gap only grows for Galparsoro. His lead is up to eight minutes! He has gone about 30km in 50 minutes.
158km - Dionisio Galparsoro (Euskaltel) is 120th in the GC at 1'16"25 behind the pink jersey Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step). He should get a free ride at the start of the day as the Italian is no threat in the overall standings...
162km - The gap is up to 2'51". Galparsoro could be in for a long, lonely ride if it keeps increasing.
168km - The gap is 1'05" for Galparsoro. The peloton is letting the 29-year-old Euskaltel veteran have his fun.
169km - Dionisio Galparsoro (Euskaltel) launches an attack early, building a lead of 20 seconds after three kilometres of riding. We may see a break-away or two today, but this is truly one for the sprinters.
171km - Today's start was given 13h15 local time at the Viale Bologna in Forli. The finish is expected to be some time between 17h04 local time (if the average speed is 45 km/h) and 17h26 (if it's 41 km/h).
172km - This is the second time that the city of Carpi has hosted a Giro finish line. In 1998, Frenchman Laurent Roux took victory and with it the pink jersey.
----- - Welcome to LIVE coverage of the pancake flat 172-km 12th stage of the Giro D'Italia from Forlì to Carpi. The day's racing is set to begin at 12:15 BST!