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Giro d'Italia - Padova - San Martino di Castrozza

Live Comments

  1. - - Lovkvist takes pink with Di Luca two seconds back and Rogers in third at six seconds.

  2. 0km - Juan Mauricio Soler is caught with 100m to go and it's Danilo Di Luca who takes the victory ahead of Stefano Garzelli with Franco Pellizotti third. The Colonbian was fourth with Simoni, Leipheimer, Lovkvist, Basso, Menchov and Arroyo completing the top ten Lance Armstrong lost time in the final kilometre.

  3. 1km - Soler has another kick and goes under the Flamme Rouge with a slim lead. The final kilometer has a gradient of 6.3%.

  4. 2km - Voigt's brave attack has ended. Szmyd leads a group of around 50 under the 2km to go bannner.

  5. 3km - Voigt's lead is just 25 seconds as Sylvester Szmyd leads the chase group for team-mates Ivan Basso and Franco Pellizotti. Lance Armstrong is lying doggo with the leaders.

  6. 4km - Mauricio Soler has attacked the main bunch and is followed by the big guns.

  7. 5km - The Petacchi group is currently 10:30 back as Voigt looks to follow up his victory in stage 18 last year with another success. He leads the peloton by 1:15.

  8. 6km - The German veteran is still on the big ring but the maximum gradient of 10% occurs with about 5km to go to the finish.

  9. 7km - Voigt attacks.

  10. 8km - Voigt and Belotti lead by 1:30.

  11. 9km - The gradient jumps up to 6.4% after 3km of the climb and Voigt and Belotti are having a chat about how they need to work together at the front. De Bonis has lost 24 seconds.

  12. 10km - Voigt has attacked on the opening kilometers of the climb which have a gentle gradient between 1 and 3%.

  13. 12km - De Bonis is in trouble early on the climb.

  14. 15km - Our trio of leaders look on borrowed time as their lead drops to two minutes although expect a large group to come to the line together on a wide and smooth ascent with broad sweeping corners.

  15. 20km - LPR continue to set the pace on the front of the peloton for Di Luca, they have cut the gap on our trio of leaders down to under three minutes.

  16. 25km - Martinez Acevedo, Vigano and Stannard have been caught by the peloton.

  17. 30km - Just before the climb hots up, go behind the scenes with Team Columbia. Video: Inside the team

  18. 35km - 20 kilometers of gradual climbing are now in store before the San Martino di Castrozza - a 13.7 km long climb with rises 753m and has an average gradient of 5.5%.

  19. 40km - The peloton crosses the summit 4:39 behind with Di Luca near the back after a mechanical problem.

  20. 42km - Bellotti jumped away to take the points at the summit ahead of De Bonis with Voigt third and the Barloworld man takes the virtual green jersey.

  21. 43km - Bellotti, De Bonis, Voigt and Martinez Acevedo are still 5:30 ahead of the peloton.

  22. 44km - Vigano and Stannard have now lost two minutes.

  23. 45km - Alessandro Petacchi in the pink jersey has now lost contact.

  24. 46km - LPR Brakes set the pace on the front of the pink jersey group as Mark Cavendish drops off the back.

  25. 47km - Stannard and Vigano have been dropped early on the climb.

  26. 48km - Mauro Da Dalto of Lampre has hit the deck just before the ascent of the Croce d'Aune.

  27. 50km - Vigano took the bonus seconds at the sprint in Pedavena.

  28. 55km - A lot of people are fancying Manuel Quinziato to do something today. The Liquigas rider is from nearby Bolzano.

  29. 60km - Get the lowdown on all the Brits in the race. How our boys might fare

  30. 65km - If you don't know much about Ian Stannard, he was born on 25 May 1987 in Chelmsford and made his professional road debut in August 2007, joining T-Mobile as a trainee. He rode for Landbouwkrediet in 2008 and came third overall in the 2008 Tour of Britain ridng for the national team. In 2009 he joined the new ISD team.

  31. 70km - 44.9 kmh was the speed for the second hour.

  32. 75km - Check out the latest edition of our weekly cycling blog. Blazin Saddles: Pretty in pink

  33. 80km - The Giro d'Italia is LIVE right now on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521) and is also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player. click here to subscribe

  34. 85km - Voigt was first at the Traguardo Volante classification in Cornuda. The lead group are 7:20 ahead.

  35. 90km - At the summit of the Croce d’Aune stands a monument to Tullio Campagnolo. An Italian racing cyclist and inventor who patented the quick release skewer and started the bicycle component design and manufacturing company that bears his name.

  36. 95km - The first significant climb of the race is the Croce d’Aune comes after 111km. The climb is 8.5km and goes up 675 meters with an average gradient of 7.9%. The climb includes a brief section of 12%.

  37. 100km - The current time gap for our five leaders is 6:20.

  38. 105km - We are pretty sure to see a new man in pink tonight and it is likely to be either Michael Rogers or Thomas Lovkvist. But with 20 second bonus on the line, it could be Lance or Danilo di Luca. General Classification

  39. 110km - Tyler Farrer took second yesterday despite, according to Tom Danielson, having his 'rear derailleur cable ripped out in the big crash in the end. He was stuck in one gear!'

  40. 115km - The leaders are negotiating a short 100m bump which occurs between 45km and 47km - 20km of descending follows.

  41. 120km - A rapid speed of 46.5kmh in the opening hour with the gap for the leaders now at 6:25.

  42. 125km - The prize money - 3000 euros - for the intermediate sprint today in Pedavana goes to LIVESTRONG.

  43. 130km - The advantage of our six leaders is now over five minutes.

  44. 135km - American rider Christian Vande Velde crashed out of the Giro d'Italia after breaking two ribs on stage three. He said on his Twitter page earlier: "Thanks everyone for your support. I body slammed my self something awful, but as always it could've been worse. I can't go for the pink jersey myself today, I am pushing for Mick Rogers to take it."

  45. 140km - Francisco Perez Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) crashed at the 11km mark and has become the third rider in the race to abandon. Start List

  46. 145km - The group of Stannard now leads by two minutes. Francesco Bellotti (Barloworld), Davide Vigano (Fuji-Servetto), Francesco De Bonis (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni), Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) and Serafin Martinez Acevedo (Xacobeo-Galicia) are the others involved.

  47. 150km - Britain's Ian Stannard is in an early six-man break that has opened up a 30 second lead on the peloton.

  48. 155km - The riders are heading 40 kilometers northwards on almost entirely flat roads but the last 70 kilometers of the stage are all uphill with the Croce d’Aune and the San Martino di Castrozza to tackle.

  49. 160km - Huge crowds in Padova. Lance Armstrong is predicting Michael Rogers to be in pink tonight.

  50. 162km - The fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia from Padova is the first mountainous section of the race and will test pink jersey holder Alessandro Petacchi to the limit. The riders set off at 13:05 local time in warm conditions, it's around 26 degrees in northern Italy.