Giro d' Italia 2014

['Dale]

Two non-starters today, Daniel Martin who will be heading home to nurse a broken right collar bone and Koldo Fernandez who missed the time cut. Y

['Dale]

 

 

And the break, which now has 3 minutes after 12 miles of racing consists of Jeffry Johan Romero Corredor (Col) Colombia, Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team, Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Belisol, and Andrea Fedi (Ita) Neri Sottoli - Yellow Fluo.

Edited May 10, 2014 by ' Dale

['Dale]

The rain is coming down a little harder now and the break push on, extending their lead to five minutes over the bunch. OricaGreenEdge have moved to the front but they're not too concerned with chasing just yet.

['Dale]

193km remaining from 219km

 

26km into the race and the gap has reached a stable 5 minutes and it's holding.

['Dale]

44km into the race and the break, which has passed through Ballymena, has 6:30 over the GreenEdge led peloton.

['Dale]

60km into the race and the break are at 6 minutes.

['Dale]

129km remaining from 219km

 

Nearly 90km into the stage and the break have seen another minute come off their advantage. They still hold a healthy 5 minute margin though. The race is about to head through the feedzone.

['Dale]

The rain has been on and off all day so far. It's meant that the roads have been wet throughout the stage.

['Dale]

Bad news for Katusha with Giampaolo Caruso on the deck after a fall. Luckily he's back on his bike and riding again.

['Dale]

The race is heading east now, and will soon run by the Giant Causeway. The rain continues to come down but it's sunny skies at the finish at the moment.

['Dale]

 

Just over 100km to go and the bunch continue to work hard in the rain. The break look to be suffering though, the conditions and the roads starting to wear them down.

['Dale]

Picturesque scenes as the break heads along the coast. They've been away for nearly three hours now and have 97km to go.

['Dale]

There's injection of pace in the break as they contest the KOM points. It's Fedi who kicks things off.

['Dale]

 

There's still a long way to go until the top of this fourth cat climb though and now it's the Belkin rider who opens the sprint and takes the points.

['Dale]

At the front of the bunch Orica GreenEdge continue to set the pace. Astana are the head of the race too, keeping Scarponi out of trouble. Not much wind around at the moment and there's Uran, near the front with his Omega body guards around him.

['Dale]

Brrrrrrrrr