Welcome to Cycling Weekly's live coverage from stage 1 of the 2024 Giro d'Italia.
Stage 1 should favour the puncheurs with three categorised climbs and 1,850 metres of climbing over 140km of racing from Venaria Reale to Turin.
Tadej Pogačar starts the race as the overwhelming favourite for the overall victory, but could he take the Maglia Rosa today with a victory on the opening stage?
And they are underway with the neutralised start in Venaria Reale! There will be a 2km neutral section before the flag is dropped and the race properly gets going.
130km to go: The official start has been given and six riders are up the road.
Riders in group 1: Louis Barré (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) and Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
125km to go: All of the favourites' teams seem content with the group up the road, as their gap has gone above 1:30.
115km to go: Get ready folks! UAE Team Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers are setting the pace at the front of the peloton to control the gap to the breakaway, which will probably become a familiar sight in the days and weeks to come.
Tadej Pogačar speaking to Eurosport at the start:
"It's not going to get boring. It's 21 stages. A lot is going to happen. We cannot anticipate that there is just one favourite. There are a lot of favourites here. I think today there are a few names that can win the stage, so I think that it is going to be an interesting battle on the final steep climb."
100km to go: The situation is still largely the same, as Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates) is pulling on the front of the peloton with the gap to the breakaway currently sitting at around 1:20.
93.5km to go: The riders are now on the Berzano di San Pietro, which marks the first categorised climb of the race. At 2.9km in length at an average gradient of 5%, it is rated as a cat-4 climb and will hardly be a challenge for the riders.
90.7km to go: Filippo Fiorelli follows an attack from Andrea Pietrobon and sprints past his Italian compatriot to take maximum points on the Berzano di San Pietro climb. Barré and Ghebreigzabhier follow the move, whilst Calmejane and Debeaumarché gradually pace themselves back on.
85km to go: After their attacks on the Berzano di San Pietro climb the breakaway have a gap of around 2:15 over the peloton.
82km to go: Fiorelli takes maximum points at the intermediate sprint in Moriondo Torinese ahead of Calmejane. The rest of the breakaway choose not to contest the sprint, as they are keen to conserve their energy.
81km to go: Alpecin-Deceuninck come to the front of the peloton to leadout Kaden Groves to take the remaining points for the Maglia Ciclamino at the intermediate sprint. He is clearly interested in taking that jersey and will be hoping to wear it on the podium in Rome.
69km to go: The breakaway is now on the cat-3 Superga climb, which used to be a prominent feature in the Milano-Torino one-day race. The climb is 8km in length with an average gradient of 4.4%.
65.5km to go: Lilian Calmejane attempts to whittle down the group with an attack, as Pietrobon goes with him. Ghebreigzabhier bridges across to them and passes them instantly to go solo at the front.
64km to go: Ghebreigzabhier continues to extend his advantage over Calmejane and Pietrobon, who are joined by Fiorelli.
61.5km to go: Ghebreigzabhier takes the maximum points at the summit of the Superga climb, as the gap to the peloton goes over 3:00. Fiorelli wins the sprint behind ahead Calmejane and Pietrobon for the remaining points.
60km to go: Ghebreigzabhier has now been caught by Calmejane, who pushed on over the summit. They have around 10 seconds of an advantage over Fiorelli and Pietrobon.
51km to go: Debeaumarché and Barré have now been caught by the peloton, leaving four riders at the front, with Ghebreigzabhier and Calmejane around 30 seconds ahead of Fiorelli and Pietrobon.
40km to go: Calmejane comes around Ghebreigzabhier to take the Intergiro sprint without contest from the Eritrean.
34km to go: Ghebreigzabhier has pushed on at the front, with Calmejane distanced on a short uncategorised climb.
30km to go: Calmejane has rejoined Ghebreigzabhier at the front as they pass through the finish line and take the bell with one lap of the finishing circuit left. Meanwhile, Fiorelli and Pietrobon have been caught by the peloton as they get into position for the final categorised climb of the Colle Maddalena.
28km to go: Ghebreigzabhier and Calmejane are now onto the slopes of the Colle Maddalena, which is a cat-2 climb at 7km in length with an average gradient of 6.8%.
28km to go: Crash in the peloton with Robert Gesink (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Domenico Pozzovivo (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) involved.
25km to go: Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) has been dropped from the peloton under the pace of Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates). Calmejane pushes on at the head of the race and drops Ghebreigzabhier as their gap goes under 30 seconds.
24km to go: Ghebreigzabhier has been caught by the peloton, as Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates) comes to the front of the group with his teammate Tadej Pogačar in his wheel. Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) has been dropped from the peloton along with Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla).
22km to go: Over the top of the Colle Maddalena, Calmejane held on to take maximum points and secure the Maglia Azzurra with the peloton in sight of the Frenchman.
16km to go: Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) launches an attack off the front of the peloton with 30 seconds to Calmejane at the head of the race. Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) are quick to jump onto the German's wheel.
10km to go: Schachmann, Conci and Honoré have been joined by Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco AlUla), Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), catching Calmejane to form an eight man group at the head of the race.
5km to go: Conci has a small gap on the rest of the breakaway.
4km to go: Tadej Pogačar has moved to the front of the peloton as they catch the chasing group.
2km to go: Pogačar has now caught and dropped Conci with Jhonatan Narváez and Maximilian Schachmann in his wheel with gap to the rest of the favourites in the peloton.
1km to go: Pogačar is forced to leadout the sprint, but it is Schachmann that jumps first. Narváez is staying in the wheel of Pogačar for as long as possible.
Jhonatan Narváez outsprints Tadej Pogačar and Maximilian Schachmann to win stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia and take the first Maglia Rosa of the race.
