Grassmarket

Another Top 10 shootout on a small climb today, this time Dan Martin gets the win.

Checking it now, Guerreiro has accumulated a massive lead of over 100 points, so unlikely to be possible.

Pinot has abandoned, unsurprisingly - back is still not recovered. Goes back to his goats for the winter.

Guess Hindley & Geoghagan-Hart must be in with a chance of repeating Pogačar’s triple of overall, KoM & Young Rider. Kelderman starts to slip again. Hindley gets the stage!

Kelderman’s managing to hold his gap now. Getting a lot of help from the GPS timer. Bilbao & Fuglsang also gaining now. No, just Bilbao, Fuglsang is gone.

Straight fight now between Hindley & Geoghan-Hart. Kelderman need to hold onto Fuglsang or he’s a dead man. Can’t do it, that is it!

Jeez, some remedial dressing lessons needed for Sunweb. Hindley is riding down the mountain with an air-brake on his chest. Kelderman starting to lose big chunks of time now. Going back to Group 3 Bilbao & Fuglsang. Geoghagan-Hart takes 3 secs sprint bonus, goes ahead of Hindley by 1 sec!

Decisive moments in the Giro - Almeida in trouble for the first time. Hindley, Kelderman & Geoghagan-Hart putting time into him now. Kelderman cracks. 45k to go & lots more climbing. Very weird that the battle for theGC & the Young Riders jersey are now the same. Well into the snowline.

Do you know how many breweries there are along that route?

Didn’t realise It but with the cancellation of the Compiègne-Roubaix that’s the last one-dayer (and indeed three-dayer ) of the year. Just the Giro & the Vuelta (inc women’s mini Vuelta) to go.

Update on the horses who got involved in the stage today. As the pack attempted to reel in Soler, a group of five small Asturcon wild horses, local to the northern Spanish Basque region, burst out of roadside trees and into the second chasing group. Miraculously, no-one was knocked off their bike as riders took evasive action. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/54609483

Whole herd of horses on the road in the Vuelta. in the race, all the top 10 or so from yesterday are in the top 10 group today and all the disappointments from yesterday are going to be disappointing again today. Soler making a desperate bid for the first major Movistar win of the year. Gets the win. Roglič gets 6 secs bonus.

Some big reorganisation needed for Saturday as the Mayor of Briançon is not going to let the race pass through the town (scheduled to be about 40k to go, with an intermediate sprint). Final climb starting up to Madonna di Campiglio. GC fight starting. Ben O’Connor goes for glory in the break. O’Connor gets the win. GC seems to be fizzing out into another race for the odd 10 deconds or so.

Roglič will be haunted by a voice in his ear all race now. “Don’t mess up the Time Trial, Primož, don’t mess up the Time Trial.”

Froome struggling already. Not getting any help from the team - quite the opposite they are on front & driving.

Looked dodgy for 10 minutes there..... Almeida grabs a few seconds back on the climb.

Always the same: 80-90% of the world’s best do the Tour. 40% are in either the Giro or Vuelta.

That’s true. Hasn’t been to Dakar for about 20 years. At least they dropped the Paris bit. Come to think, the Paris-Roubaix doesn’t go near Paris either.

It’s the World’s most mis-named race this week, the Driedagse Brugge-De Panne Starts in Bruges Finishes in De Panne Does NOT last three days!

Two weeks till the election, so naturally Joe Biden is going to take a holiday. Nothing to do with having to dodge awkward questions about his corrupt whore-mongering cokehead son, of course - he just wants to catch up with Emily in Paris on Netflix.

Kicking off now with 10k to go, Dennis caught & riders drifting off the back - Fuglsang & Bilbao struggling. Nibali in trouble now, still 8.6k to go. Almeida now dropped, Kelderman & Geoghan Hart leading. Almeida still working hard to get back. Almeida still holding onto Pink though with 2k to go. Kelderman needs to do more if he wants it, just following his team-mate Hindley. Geoghagan-Hart gets his debut GT win, Almeida gives about 37 secs, but stays in pink. All the other big names lose time.

Dorothy Weirer puts in a guest star appearance at the Giro! Meanwhile, Rohan Dennis off on a solo run for the stage win. 45k to go & plenty climbing. Long odds.

What are the odds? Same crash takes out both Ecuadorians.

Very rare win for yesterday. OK, lots of big names missing, but it’s in the books now.

Every Belgian rider has a race that goes past their front door at some point in the year.