Good morning and welcome to our live blog for stage six of the Giro d'Italia, which is set to be a fascinating 180km between Viareggio and Rapolano terme. While it isn't a day in the high mountains, or a TT, as we'll see tomorrow, it could definitely be a day for the general classification contenders.
That's because of three gravel sectors, totalling 11.6km, which is an intriguing addition to the Giro d'Italia route. An inopportune mechanical, or a crash, could ruin someone's whole Giro, and the day has a real potential to shake up the GC.
Tadej Pogačar remains in pink, and as a two-time winner of Strade Bianche, knows what it takes to win on the sterrato. However, misfortune can affect anyone.
I'm Adam Becket, by the way, feel free to contact me if you have any thing to add - adam.becket@futurenet.com or via X/Twitter - @adambecket.
Today's stage will kick off about 12:00 BST, so while we wait for the action to begin, let's recap yesterday's surprising stage six.
It was supposed to be a day for the sprinters, but the break foiled them, with Benjamin Thomas of Cofidis proving triumphant in Lucca.
"It was a long, long team pursuit," Thomas said post stage. "We did an amazing break, and I don’t believe it. It was really hard in the final. Every pull was full gas. It is unbelievable."
If you want more, take a look at my reaction/analysis piece on day the sprint team's messed up.
Here's today's profile, which has just two category-four climbs. It is the greyed-out bit, though, the gravel, which starts with about 50km to go, which is interesting.
The first sector, from Vidritta-Bagnaia, is 4.4km long and is immediately followed by the 4.8km Bagnaia-Grotti sector. Bagnaia Grotti forms the second fourth-category climb of the day, and has pitches of 15%, so the race could be won here.
Of course, it's not Strade Bianche, but Pogačar does have a habit of long-range attacks at the race...
It is well worth refreshing your mind on who is leading the Giro d'Italia overall, and in all the other classifications too. (Hint, Pogačar might feature)
Some non-starters already today: Michael Woods and Nadav Raisberg, both of Israel-Premier Tech. The former, a multiple-Grand Tour stage winner, was forced to withdraw with concussion.
Florian Lipowitz of Bora-Hansgrohe, has also departed the race due to sickness. The young German was fifth on Sunday's first summit finish, and looked promising in his first Grand Tour.
"It's not Strade Bianche, to be honest, it's just a 'not nice' stage, I would say," Tadej Pogačar said on Wednesday, playing down his chances of a decisive attack.
"We need to be really concentrated from start to finish. We need to be together as a team going to the gravel sectors with great focus and just arrive to the finish line."
While we're waiting for the action to kick off, why not have a read of my profile of Vegard Stake Laengen, Tadej Pogačar's teammate for every Grand Tour since 2020. He's not one for the limelight, but he's also at this Giro.
The riders are rolling off for the neutralised start, so here's the top two on GC this morning - Geraint Thomas and Tadej Pogačar.
Here are Geraint Thomas' views on gravel being included today: "It seems to be the way it's going. You need to be able to do a bit of everything, but sometimes it could end someone's GC if luck is not ono your side. That's bike racing at the end of the day, so we just have to race the race.
"We did it [a recon] before Strade [Bianche]. I know them, but it'll be a challenge. It's hard anyway, with the climbs, but with the stress and the luck, that's the biggest danger."
Today's stage begins from Torre del Lago Puccini, where Giacomo Puccini spent much of his life. As a result, there is an annual opera festival there, which is fun. I wonder how many of the peloton can name Tosca or Turandot?
It's almost kilometre 0.
180km to go: Attacks from the flag drop, with the first coming from an EF Education-EasyPost rider, Andrea Piccolo, followed by many, many others. It's going to be a frantic start.
176km to go: At the moment on Eurosport, we're being treated to some predictions, but, meanwhile, everything is almost back together at the front of the race.
175km to go: Edward Theuns of Lidl-Trek is the next to have a go, free of bunch sprint responsibilities today.
The peloton is in single file more or less, with those caught up in crashes very much at the back.
173km to go: There are a lot of riders attempting digs. When the elastic snaps, who will be left up the road?
By the way, Israel-Premier Tech had a third rider leave the Giro overnight - Riley Pickrell, the young Canadian - really unfortunate for the squad, who now have just five riders left.
171km to go: UAE Team Emirates have amassed at the front of the peloton, possibly to calm things down. They would rather a breakaway disappeared up the road, so the race wasn't quite so crazy.
169km to go: Things have not calmed down, though. Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) is off the front, and there are quite a few trying to follow. This has to calm down at some point, surely.
166km to go: Marcellusi has been caught. Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) is being given his own personal leadout to get in the break, but still nothing doing.
Now it's Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) who heads up the road. He has a gap. He's followed by a Tudor Pro Cycling rider, unclear who that is at present.
164km to go: It's Alexander Kamp from Tudor, the Dane. However, it doesn't look like this will stick. The race will not quieten at present.
162km to go: Clarke and Kamp are back, and the attacks keep coming. Next it is a rider from Polti Kometa and one from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale off the front.
157km to go: Despite those three riders up the road - one of whom is Mattia Bais (Polti Kometa) - the attacks keep coming. There are more than a dozen riders trying to get away.
Everything is back together. For now.
156km to go: Was that Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) trying an attack? That would be interesting.
Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) is trying to slingshot Attila Valter into the break. Could this one stick?
153km to go: Valter and Affini have been caught. Movistar are keen to try something, they're the next off the front, but the chase is too hot to create a split. Will this ever calm down?
149km to go: There's almost too much interest in trying to get in the break. As a result, the pace is still high and the chase is on.
147km to go: It's the familiar faces of Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) and Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe), along with Gaviria, off the front at the minute. A strong trio, but there will surely be reaction. It's EF who have fired someone off in response.
145km to go: Just a reminder from Jens Voigt on the television that Wouter Weylandt passed away 13 years ago today, after a crash at the Giro. Important, as ever, to remember him.
144km to go: UAE Team Emirates are back at the front, along with Tadej Pogačar in the pink jersey.
However, the squad of the race leader can't shut things down. Jayco-AlUla are the next to have a go.
The trio out front still have seven seconds.
143km to go: After all that, everything is back together. What an opening 40km, it hasn't even been 45 minutes yet. Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) is on the front, and Ineos Grenadiers have appeared too, through Connor Swift.
140km to go: Eight riders are up the road now, including Matteo Trentin (Tudor). Even more are chasing, though. It's crazy. There is a lot of gesticulating going on.
139km to go: It is once again back together. I'm getting deja vu.
137km to go: It's Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) again who goes, along with an Arkéa-B&B Hotels rider
114 km to go: Still relatively all together here as various riders try to attack and make something stick
113km to go: White jersey Cian Uijtdebroeks has just had a bike change in the bunch but is back moving again.
111km to go: Max Schachmann and Julian Alaphilippe are both trying to get themselves into the move thats trying to go. Nick Schultz from Israel-Premier Tech is the main instigator now.
110 km to go: It's chaos out there. Now it's Kaden Groves on the front for Alpecin Deceunnck as the riders approach the first climb of the day.
95 km to go: After plenty of action, we've got our breakaway.
A three man move has 16 seconds as it stands but its looking like it could stick.
Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step)
Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Filippo Fiorelli of the Bardiani team are ahead as things stand.
91km to go: Hello, Adam back from lunch now. I didn't actually have lunch, I went to the gym - ha.
Tom might have said that the break had been established, but I'm afraid not. There is now a group of at least 14 up the road, including Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who is there to claim the points at the intermediate sprint, you'd imagine. They only have about 16 seconds on the peloton.
89km to go: Those riders out front: Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Kaden Groves and Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Michel Ries (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Patrick Gamper (Bora-Hansgrohe), Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Andrea Vendrame (AG2R La Mondiale), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Dries De Pooter (Intermarché-Wanty), Albert Torres (Movistar), Kevin Vermaerke (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Matteo Trentin and Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor), Felix Großchartner (UAE Team Emirates), Filippo Fiorelli and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), and Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain-Victorious).
Oh. In the time it took to write that out, they've been caught.
85km to go: There are three left up the road: Alaphilippe, Groves, and Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar). They're being chased by Trentin, Plapp, and Marcellusi. Plapp is the biggest threat on GC, just 2:33 behind Tadej Pogačar.
80km to go: This might well be the break actually established. Apologies to Filippo Fiorelli, who is the man up the road, not Marcellusi.
The six up the road have almost got a minute, with 3.5km to the intermediate sprint.
78km to go: Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) is joining the sextet up front. Do you think the break could make it?
77km to go: Who's that handing out bottles? It's Soudal Quick-Step team boss Patrick Lefevere. Naturally.
76km to go: Kaden Groves is the first over the intermediate sprint point, followed by Filippo Fiorelli, and then Julian Alaphilippe. That's 12 points to the Australian, who moves up to second in the maglia ciclamino classification.
75km to go: UAE Team Emirates are controlling things on the front of the peloton, with Vegard Stake Laengen the point man. Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain-Victorious) is somewhere in between the peloton and the break, but it's looking unlikely he will make it back on.
Meanwhile, the breakaway are really going for it. There is not let up here. Two minutes the gap.
67km to go: The gap between the peloton and the break is now at 2:37, so Luke Plapp is now the virtual race leader. Will the youn Australian be in pink at the end of the day? He has already tasted leading a race this season, wearing the yellow jersey at Paris-Nice earlier this year.
62km to go: Things have actually calmed down a bit, and there is time for the riders in the break to grab a new bottle and take on some energy too. It's certainly needed after such an electric start to the day.
61km to go: The gap to the break has actually grown out to three minutes now. Meanwhile, those who were dropped earlier are about to make it back on, among them Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).
57km: Helpful TV graphic there - there's about 2.5km in between the breakaway and the peloton at this stage, and a further 300m back to Milan's group.
51km to go: The peloton is all back together. There are 1.6km to go for the break to the first gravel sector, so buckle in.
49km to go: The first sector is very much downhill, and the breakaway are tackling it furiously. It it so incredibly dusty, and this is just for seven riders.
45km to go: As the break is off this first section of gravel, the peloton is very much on it. Ineos Grenadiers are swarming at the front, but Pogačar is there too.
44km to go: The break's advantage is already down to 2:16, proof of how quickly the peloton is racing this gravel. They're onto the second sector.
44km to go: Filippo Ganna is on the front of the peloton for Ineos Grenadiers, and there's a split behind in the bunch.
43km to go: Luke Plapp has forged off alone from the break, and is being chased. It will be interesting to see how the peloton tackles this same bit.
43km to go: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) is now back in the peloton, and working for his team leader Juan Pedro López.
Plapp now has Sánchez and Alaphilippe for company.
41km to go: Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) are affected by a slight mechanical in front, which caused a crash behind.
39km to go: The break now have just 1:23 on what is left of the peloton. Martínez is back in there, too.
38km to go: By the way, Alaphilippe won the KOM sprint at Grotti, ahead of Sánchez and Plapp.
37km to go: Trentin, Groves and Fiorelli are about a minute ahead of the peloton, so half an minute behind the front of the race.
34km to go: There has been an attack from the peloton, and it's Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost). This seems doomed.
32km to go: Plapp, Alaphilippe and Sánchez now have 2:12 over the peloton.
30km to go: Under the 30km to go banner for the trio up front. Alaphilippe and Sánchez are having a go at each other about cooperation in the breakaway.
27km to go: Ah, it's time for the Intergiro sprint. There are bonus seconds on offer, as well as points for that competition, so Plapp wants them - he is keen to climb up the general classification. He does indeed sail through first.
The trio up front have 1:05 on their former colleagues in the break, and 2:28 on the peloton.
25km to go: I think it's just about fair to say that things look calmer in the peloton, but UAE Team Emirates are in position drilling it on the front. I wonder if Pogačar is thinking of doing something? You would not rule anything out.
21km to go: 3km to the next gravel sector, and the break have 2:27 on the peloton.
18km to go: The trio up front are on the final gravel sector.
17km to go: Meanwhile, there was a big crash at the back of the peloton, which affected a few riders. I'll let you know who's affected as soon as we are told.
Ineos Grenadiers are on the front of the peloton, by the way. Not UAE Team Emirates.
16km to go: The break's advantage is narrowing, now down to just 1:35. Can they make it? They could yesterday, but this is another day.
Magnus Sheffield is on the front for Ineos, really pushing on. The pace is on on the gravel, with the peloton strung out. There are gaps, but Pogačar is there.
15km to go: The split is being undone, but that will have tested a few nerves. Pogačar has teammates now. It looks quite horrible. Thymen Arensman, Geraint Thomas and Jhonatan Narváez are there for Ineos.
13km to go: The break, which I briefly forgot about, have just 1:03 on the peloton now. There are still some twists and turns to come, I'm sure.
11km to go: In the break, Sánchez got a roundabout completely wrong, with Alaphilippe getting caught up in it, meaning Plapp has the advantage for now.
Here's Ineos Grenadiers drilling it on the front on a gravel sector.
8.5km to go: The gap is 1:11 between the peloton and the break now, which is all still together, despite Alaphilippe and Sánchez both looking in difficulty at various points. Plapp does look good, but can they hold on?
Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish has won stage two of the Tour of Hungary - read the full report when we have it up in a minute.
5km to go: In Italy, the break's advantage is down to 45 seconds. Could it still be there fore them? It will be tricky. If they stay away, something big will need to happen. There's one more little climb to go.
4.2km to go: Alaphilippe is on the front on this climb, which feels a bit like the crowds at the end of Il Lombardia.
4km to go: Romain Bardet attacks on the front of the peloton, but there was no big split.
3km to go: After all that hard work, there was a brief worry that Geraint Thomas hadn't made it, but he is back towards the front. The break have 20ish seconds.
1.5km to go: The gap is still at 20 seconds, so they might still have this...
1km to go: Under the flamme rouge, and the three up front have 22 seconds. They can't afford to play around, though.
Will it be Julian Alaphilippe, Luke Plapp or Pelayo Sánchez?
Plapp is on the front
PELAYO SÁNCHEZ OF MOVISTAR WINS STAGE 6 OF THE GIRO D'ITALIA
Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) finished second, with Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) in third.
