The Giro, my favourite tour of the year is only 2 weeks....

['Dale]

the GC men are in the Astana led peloton, no casualties at this stage but there' still a lot of climbing to come.

['Dale]

Astana's pressure has seen the peloton reduced to around 30 men as Nieve and Dombrowski go clear from the break. Further down the road Astana continue to set the pace as we see Jungels start to lose teammates.

['Dale]

Clarke is caught and he offers a bottle Uran.

['Dale]

Chaves is riding just be behind Valverde as Nieve goes on his own, Dombrowksi isn't able to hold the Team Sky rider's wheel.

['Dale]

Amador, Hesjedal, Pozovivo, Uran, Zakarin are all there in the GC group as Nieve ploughs on alone. 32km to go.

['Dale]

31kms to go

No flats at all - only steep up or down, remaining ????

 

Nieve is the stage leader fighting for some glory for Sky

['Dale]

The Maglia Rosa still hanging in there

Does he have the fight to stay in?

It is tough pacing from the Astana train

[The expat cyclist]

I must say, the Italian broadcasters do offer some very random camera shots ...

['Dale]

Nieve is first to the top of the climb and takes maximum points for Team Sky. A descent now all the way to the final climb. Can Jungels survive this climb though? Visconti second over the penultimate climb, Dombrowski third.

['Dale]

Jungels is starting to lose ground. He's at the back of the group. We're close to the top though. Amador is also suffering.

Could make it safely across to the main protagonists as they crest.

['Dale]

Nibali second wheel with Fuglsang just behind. Valverde is just on his wheel.

['Dale]

No let up from Astana though as they continue to set the pace at the front of the reduced peloton. Hesjedal is also near the back, but Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNl-Jumbo) is looking very strong indeed. He's just behind Valverde. 30km to go.

['Dale]

Jungels seems to have recovered and is back in the middle of the GC group. Scare over for the Etixx Quickstep team.

['Dale]

Over the top of the climb and inside the final 30km of the stage. Nieve leads with Dombrowski and Visconti less than a minute down. Then we have a few stragglers from the earlier break and then the GC group.

The descent is far from easy, tight, twisty roads but Nieve is taking it in his stride for now.

['Dale]

And on the descent Amador accelerates and Nibali matches him. The Italian was on him like a hawk.

['Dale]

25km go to and Amador moves clear again. Nieve, meanwhile has 2'35 over the maglia rosa group.