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Giro d'Italia - Campi Bisenzio - Bologna

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  1. - - Denis Menchov retains the pink jersey - no matter what happened, DiLuca just couldn't get rid of him today despite the best efforts of the LPR team.

  2. - - Cervelo will be delighted that their man got over the line - it's the first stage win for what is still a fairly new team.

  3. - - So the results are: 1. Simon Gerrans, 2. Rubens Bertogliati 3. Francesco Gavazzi, 4. Evgeni Petrov, 5. Philip Deignan, 6. Chris Froome.

  4. - - The field is smattered all over the place after that gruelling final hill - including Lance Armstrong, who fell right back on the final kilometre.

  5. 0km - Simon Gerrans cruises over the line, and that's a fantastic stage victory!

  6. 0.3km - Gerrans has broken the back of the hill, and he will win this stage comfortably now! A perfectly timed charge, and that's incredible leg endurance from the Aussie.

  7. 0.5km - Lance Armstrong is pushing to the front of the peloton just as they catch the tail of the breakaway group, which has opened right up.

  8. 0.9km - Froome is all over the place, about to collapse... but he's not letting go... but no, his legs have gone!!!! This is Gerrans all the way now!

  9. 1km - Froome and Gerrans are clear of the breakaway group now... Gerrans looks like he'll pull this out though.

  10. 1.5km - Bertogliati takes over the lead of the breakaway group, but Chris Froome is right there as well... and now the peloton are at the foot of the slope.

  11. 2km - Grivko has reached the bottom of the hill - and it's an absolute killer!!! He's been caught immediately,

  12. 2.5km - Carlos Sastre pushes to the front of the peloton.

  13. 3km - Grivko is trying to pull out a bit of a lead, but it doesn't seem likely that he'll make it all the way to the line.

  14. 4km - Andriy Grivko breaks clear at the front of the race.

  15. 5km - The gap is two minutes now, and the lead is changing hands at the front of the breakaway group constantly.

  16. 6km - We're in the calm before the final climb up the Colle della Guardia, a brilliantly steep run whose gradient gets as steep as 16 per cent. It'll be a mad, 2km dash straight up hill!

  17. 9km - 2'09" the gap now - and it seems like the attempt to reel in the breakaway group has been all but abandoned.

  18. 10km - A few riders have fallen back off the breakaway, but there are still 11 riders in it - and they're counter-attacking now! The gap is opened back up to about two minutes.

  19. 15km - LPR's riders are still trying to pull the pack in, and the gap has now been cut down to under a minute!

  20. 20km - Things look good for a grandstand finish here: the penultimate climb is over, and we've a fairly gentle downhill stretch until a ludicrously steep final climb into the streets of Bologna.

  21. 23km - Menchov is now glued to DiLuca's back wheel as the pair push to the front of the peloton.

  22. 25km - This is hard graft now for LPR, they're really pushing hard in the mid-afternoon sunshine up this hill - the gap is down to just 1'48" now...

  23. 30km - The penultimate climb begins in earnest, with the LPR team trying desperately to cut down the breakaway group now.

  24. 35km - The gap has been tightened up a little, and is now just under four minutes.

  25. 37km - There's a fascinating battle between Denis Menchov and Danilo DiLuca in the peloton. They're eyeing each other like hawks, each desperate to be wearing the pink jersey tomorrow.

  26. 40km - The riders fly downhill towards Calderino, a fairly sharp downhill section before they take on the penultimate climb of the day, a short but sharp run that steepens on its way up to the summit and the village of Mongardino.

  27. 48km - The leaders are still pushing on, clattering through the rolling Italian countryside - which looks like it's straight off the label of an olive oil bottle - and extending that hap still further.

  28. 50km - The breakaway group puts in a spurt and builds the gap back up to 4'39" - there are some very good riders in it, though, which all but guarantees that the teams will do everything they can to pull it back in before too long.

  29. 55km - The breakaway group is now at the summit of Valico di Mediano with Bonnafond is still at the front - but there are several ups and downs here over the next few kilometres before the descent starts.

  30. 58km - Muller has dropped back from the breakaway group a little, and seems to be drifting back towards the peloton. The overall gap is back up over four minutes now as the leading riders approach the summit.

  31. 60km - Still 14 riders in the breakaway group, a fairly large number for a group - that should help out a little.

  32. 65km - It's a smooth climb, this, stretching back and forth under the bright sunshine. Good news for Ian Stannard is that he's back up on his bike and has caught back up with the peloton.

  33. 70km - Next up for the riders is the climb up to Valico di Tole - it's a 14km stretch that steepens as it goes up, with a nasty 12% stretch just before the summit.

  34. 75km - As the riders come through to Vergato the breakaway group is holding a steady advantage of 3'30".

  35. 80km - Britain's Ian Stannard, riding back in the peloton, has had a fall.

  36. 85km - Belgian rider Jelle Vanendert has retired from the race as the peloton slowly reels in the breakway group. The gap is down to around 3'40" now.

  37. 90km - There's a brief blip in the descent as the race goes through Maria Villana, and that's the half-way point of the day's racing.

  38. 98km - That's the summit of the day's second climb! The breakaway group has lost about 40 seconds to the peloton over the course of the climb, but they'll probably gain it all back with interest as they swoop down the mountainside towards Vergato - this is the day's biggest, steepest descent.

  39. 105km - The gap is just over four and a half minutes now as the riders go past Gaggio Montano just before the half-way point of the climb.

  40. 110km - The Valico di Mediano climb begins, and although it's overall a fairly steady descent over the course of the 15km it all kicks off with a nasty 12 per cent gradient section.

  41. 115km - It's all fairly steady stuff at the moment, but we're just a few km from the day's second big climb - will somebody take it on?

  42. 120km - As the riders head down towards the town of Silla - which is at the end of this leisurely descent - the gap is still holding steady at around four and a half minutes.

  43. 125km - The breakaway group are maintaining a steady gap, and nobody in the peloton will be bothered by a meagre four minute gap at this stage.

  44. 130km - The first bike through the Inzio Tunnel is Grivko, closely followed by Visconti and Bonnafond. They've earned this bit of breather now as they have a lovely, long steady downhill stretch for the next 20km or so.

  45. 135km - This 12.5km climb over Passo della Collina is almost over for the riders at the head of the breakaway group, and they're still 4'25" clear as they approach the tunnel that dips under the mountain's summit.

  46. 140km - The full list of riders in the breakaway group is: Phillip Deignan abd Simon Gerrans (Cervelo), Giovanni Visconti and Andriy Grivko (ISD), Giampaolo Cheula and Chris Froome(Barloworld), Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R-La Mondiale), Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre), Francesco Reda (Quick Step), Rubens Bertogliati (Diquigiovanni), Martin (Milram), Evgeni Petrov (Katusha), Eduard Vorganov (Xacobeo Galicia).

  47. 145km - The early flat section is out of the way now, and the first climb is upon the riders. The breakaway group now 4'35" clear of the peloton, but everything is up for grabs as these big climbs begin. The first one is the biggest of the lot, going from just 70m above sea level up to almost 800m

  48. 150km - At the head of the breakaway pack of 14 riders is Italy's Guillaume Bonnafond. Francesco Gavazzi is in there as well.

  49. 155km - There's a breakaway group that's headed off at a frightening pace already, with 1'48" lead.

  50. 160km - There's a few other riders as well as Mark Cavendish who haven't started today: Chainel, Meyer, Renshaw and Pozzato will all have their feet up, making a total of 181 starters.

  51. 165km - The riders are on their way up to Pistoia at the moment, following the river valley before cutting into the Apenines. It's a real attacker's stage today - we should see plenty of action over the five categorised climbs.

  52. 172km - The stage gets under way - and it's a gentle start today with the first 25km or so on almost completely flat terrain.

  53. 11.25 - In less good news, Britain's Mark Cavendish - who has won three stages on the Giro this year - won't play any further part in this year's event. Team Columbia-Highroad have pulled him out to get him some rest before the Tour de France. "He has had a very successful couple of weeks at the Giro but he is still young and he has a long career ahead of him," said team boss Rolf Aldag. Read the full story here.

  54. 11.10 - Good morning cycling fans - it's stage 14 of the Giro, and it's a VeRy HiLlY dAy In StOrE for the riders from Campi Bisenzio to Bologna. Total distance is a piece of cake at a mere 172km, but with over 3,000m of elevation change it'll be something of a killer.

 

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