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Giro d'Italia - Grado - Valdobbiadene

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  1. - - Thanks for joining us today - and we'll be back tomorrow with LIVE coverage of stage four from the Giro. See you then!

  2. - - A thrilling finish there - finished off brilliantly by Petacchi crashing gently into a couple of photographers just after the line! Tyler Farrar came in second behind the Italian, with Mattia Gavazzi in third.

  3. 0km - AND ALESSANDRO PETACCHI HAS DONE IT! The Italian wins the stage, and with Cavendish over a minute back today's stage winner will be in the pink jersey tomorrow!

  4. 0.1km - It's Petacchi who comes through!

  5. 0.2km - Visconti won't make it! Or will he? He's digging in!!! But no, his legs have gone!

  6. 0.5km - Visconti is being caught - but he's still 20m clear...

  7. 1km - Bruseghin has gone to early - now it's Visconti who charges, and he's built himself a 100m lead with 1km left!

  8. 3km - Bruseghin has gone for it, charging uphill to try and keep everyone napping! He's off and away - can he hold on?

  9. 4km - At the front Voeckler's leading group has been overhauled, and we've now got a fairly hefty leading bunch. Cavendish, meanwhile, has dropped off from the group he was in. He was pooped.

  10. 5.5km - The group with Cavendish is closing on the main group now... This might be close after all...

  11. 7km - The leading pack of a dozen is just over 20 seconds clear of the rest now - but with Cavendish in a group trailing the main pack it looks like the Brit has lost his chance of spending another night using the pink jersey as his pyjamas.

  12. 9km - Voeckler and the rest of the leading group can't work out where the others have gone - they can't believe their luck - but Ivan Basso and Petacchi aren't that far behind.

  13. 10km - Voeckler and Malacarne have broken clear of the pack now, taking a few others with them - and just behind the Peloton is brought grinding to a halt by a crash!!! That's guaranteed that the winner will come from a small group of a dozen or so who got past the crash.

  14. 14km - There's been an accident - but it's just one of the team cars carrying spare bikes that scrapes into a wall! The paint job on that Volvo will not be cheap to fix...

  15. 16km - The pack is getting very strung out just now on this gorgeous, hilly loop that finishes things up for the day. There's great helicopter footage coming through of these final stages - remember, you can watch all the action on your PC via the Eurosport Player. on your PC via the Eurosport Player.

  16. 20km - Over the start-finish line for the first time, and the riders will now just repeat this loop... the Liquigas team look comfortable at the front now and are building a great platform for their sprinters.

  17. 22km - The Liquigas team is still collected up near the front of the pack, but Cavendish has slipped back a little and looks unlikely to challenge today now.

  18. 25km - This could go anywhere still - Petacchi and Cavendish are both still well in touch, but with the riders packed so tight it looks ripe for the sort of crash mayhem which will take half a dozen or so riders out.

  19. 26km - The average pace has been upped to 45km/h now as the riders enjoy a flat section through fields.

  20. 28km - The riders come over the Piave river now. They'll cross over the start-finish line towards the end of the stage, then loop round once through the town, giving plenty of chance for hairpin madenss through the streets of Valdobbiadene.

  21. 32km - You'd have to think that the way things are playing out today would be playing into Cavendish's hands. Things will change come tomorrow when we get into the mountains, but the Brit is enjoying his moment in the sun.

  22. 35km - The breakaway pack has been caught! And now it's the Liquigas team who are cooking. Not far to go now, and the spectators - who line the route three deep in every hamlet and village - are going mad for this action!

  23. 37km - Giuseppe Palumbo - who's been leading the breakaway pack all day - tries to go it alone to build a lead as he gets onto the downhill stretch. How far will he get? Hard to say, considering that by the look of him you'd have thought he'd spent most of the day on the edge of expiring.

  24. - - Latest news is that Alejandro Valverde has been given a two-year ban by CONI - read the full story here.

  25. 39km - The Liquigas team are pumping away at the front of the Peloton and have now cut the gap down to a mere 40 seconds. With the breakaway group running into the biggest hill of the day, they're all more or less within sight of each other.

  26. 40km - Ben Swift has had a clash in the jammed peloton, and the Katusha rider's back wheel is damaged. A quick wheel change and he's back on his way, but he's lost a load of time there.

  27. 45km - Overall leader Mark Cavendish is half a dozen riders from the front of the peloton - fairly well placed to hang on to his lead, and with the group shaving 25 seconds off the leaders in the past few kilometres it looks good for the Manxman.

  28. 50km - The peloton is bunched right up now as the flat terrain opens up once more. The gap is down to 2'13", but there's still plenty of time for the chasing pack to get into it.

  29. 52km - The gap is still just over two minutes, and it's still Palumbo who is crusing ahead of the field.

  30. 54km - Quick correction - Vandevelde is out and is being checked out at hospital. It was another of the riders who got back up.

  31. 58km - The gap is down to just 2'18" now... Not good for the breakaway leaders, who for a while looked like they might just pull this off when they began reopening that gap. But the hill seems to have done for them.

  32. 60km - Excitement - there's been a crash, and it's Christian Vandevelde who's on his backside at the side of the track. The American gets back up though, and seems to be off and away okay.

  33. 63km - There's 3'55" between leaders and the peloton as the chasing pack gets in to the start of the hills - and as they do, the breakaway pack are freewheeling downhill looking comfortable.

  34. 65km - The first of the hills might not be big, but it's actually pretty steep - an 18 or 19 per cent gradient which has slowed teh leaders down. Funny how suddenly there's loads more spectators - it's just a lot more fun watching faces contorted with pain, right?

  35. 70km - It's far from a hilly stage today, but what hills there are will kick in to gear in a few minutes time as the riders close in on Valdobbiadene.

  36. 73km - That gap is down to just 4'35" now, and with dry streets and bright sunshine there's no seeming prospect of any surprises that would stop the ledaers from being caught.

  37. 75km - That's the gap down to five minutes now - and it looks like this will be the pack reeling them in properly.

  38. 84km - After the pretty medieval towns the riders were going through earlier they seem to be riding along northern Italy's answer to London's North Circular at the moment - it's not an attractive stretch just here, with a giant tyre emporium being the most interesting site of the last few minutes.

  39. 87km - The pack lift the pace marginally and are now chopping into the lead of the breakaway pack once more.

  40. 93km - Lance Armstrong and Mark Cavendish are chatting away in the peloton as if it was a Sunday afternoon and they were pedalling down to the pub.

  41. 98km - That's 100km done so far today so we're past the half-way mark... and the breakaway group are a full six minutes clear now. Can they push on from here?

  42. 100km - The breakaway group have their pedals to the metal now - or whatever reinforced carbon fibre stuff they have the pedals to now - and are opening up a new lead - they're 5'48" ahead now.

  43. 103km - What's this? The leaders seem to have found a second wind - they're no longer being reeled in...

  44. 106km - The peloton has closed the leaders' gap down to 4'40" now - there's only one way this is going to finish...

  45. 111km - At the 2 hour mark of the race the average speed achieved by the riders is 42.7km/h - that's 26.5 mph.

  46. 120km - The gap between breakaway and peloton is five and a half minutes now.

  47. 130km - It's a pretty flat stage all day today, but this next 50 or 60km stretch is flatter than a glass of supermarket own brand cola that's been left out for three days.

  48. 134km - The inexorable gravity of the chasing pack is working its magic, and the leaders are being sucked back still. It's under six minutes now.

  49. 140km - The gap is down to 6'30" - looks like the breakaway pack is being reeled in already.

  50. 144km - Interesting - the leaders are no longer extending that gap, and indeed they're even being caught back up slightly. As they enter the outskirts of Udine, the gap is seven minutes.

  51. - - If you missed yesterday's action then why not check out our online video highlights?

  52. 148km - As the riders make their way through the ancient Roman town of Aquileia, we thought we'd regale you with interesting facts and history - but the town's tourism website is a blank page stating that their account has been suspended for non-payment of their bills! Credit crunch, eh? Madness!

  53. 150km - That's the 150km mark, and the leading five are still 7'05" clear of the other 192 riders in the field today.

  54. 156km - The leaders are now 7'05" clear - but let's face it, they'll get caught. They always do...

  55. 162km - This leading group is really churning away in style, opening the gap wider and wider all the time - it's now 6'40" between them and the rest.

  56. 165km - Palumbo is still leading the pack of five riders - with him are Krivstov, Facci, Ignatiev and Schroder in that order. They're six minutes 22 seconds clear of the main group now as the race passes through Aquileia.

  57. 196km - Italian rider Giuseppe Palumbo is leading in the early stages, heading up a breakaway pack of five riders that is 10 seconds clear of the main pack.

  58. 11:35 - 198km - The riders are ready for the off in the picturesque Adriatic resort town of Grado, but today's run will be anything but a holiday. It's another more-or-less flat stage, with only a few small hills near the end as the day comes to an end in the foothills of the Alps.

  59. - - Good morning, and welcome to our LIVE coverage of today's third stage of the Giro D'Italia. For the third day in a row the route is flatter than a pancake that's just been run over by a steamroller, so expect more frantic sprinting for the line come tea time.

 

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