Good morning,
Welcome to our coverage of stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia.
Soudal Quick-Step's Tim Merlier won yesterday's stage and today looks like another opportunity for the sprinters. The riders face a largely flat 190 kilometres between Aqui Terme and Andora which should end in another bunch kick for the line.
Although as we saw yesterday, current race leader Tadej Pogačar doesn't always tend to stick to the script.
Join us back here once the stage is underway for blow by blow coverage of day four. Reach out on Twitter @thewlistt @cyclingweekly if there's anything you would like to add.
Here's how things look after the third stage.
Tadej Pogačar leads the race by 46 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas in second. Dani Martínez is one second further back in third. I would expect this to remain largely unchanged come 17:00 UK time this evening.
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 11:03:02
2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +46s
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +47s
4. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +56s
5. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +56s
6. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan, +1:07
7. Juan Pedro López (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +1:11
8. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:13
9. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan, +1:26
10. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +1:26
Stage four
Apart from one big climb, the Colle del Mologno, stage four is relatively flat.
The slightly more undulating opening phase could see a small breakaway form, but the largely flat run in after the second intermediate sprint at Savona should see the peloton reel back in any escapees.
Tim Merlier is my pick again today. Let me know who you think will take the win on social media.
You can check out our in depth guide to the route to get a look at the week ahead at the Giro.
I noticed a lot of chatter on social media yesterday regarding Pogačar's shorts. They weren't quite the right colour to match his maglia rosa but it turns out this is why they were that particular shade of pink.
Why was Pogačar wearing purple shorts rather than pink? Turns out he didn't have "ciclamino" shorts destined for points leader, instead they are "granata" to match the Grande Torino football team as this year's Giro commemorates the 1949 air disaster, via Gazzetta Dello Sport 🗞️May 7, 2024
Although looks like Tadej has reverted back to black shorts today!
The ciclamino nightmare is over pic.twitter.com/nPUHLNfUHQMay 7, 2024
We're underway and it looks like we've already got a small breakaway.
177 km to go:
We've got a breakaway of four riders as things stand. Interestingly, Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers is in the move which should give it plenty of momentum.
Stefan De Bod (EF Education_EasyPost), Lillian Calmejane (Intermarché–Wanty) and Francisco Muñoz (Polti - Kometa) are the other guys in the move.
176 km to go: The leaders gap is currently hovering between 45 seconds and a minute at the moment.
175 km to go: It's now over a minute. Calmejane is another strong rider to have in that move. It's still unlikely a breakaway will go to the line but Ganna's presence will certainly change things.
We had one non-starter in Aqui Terme this morning. Bram Welten of dsm–firmenich PostNL after being taken unwell overnight.
162 km to go: Ganna has now dropped back into the bunch and is pulling on leg warmers at the Ineos team car.
A fair few riders have pulled on wet weather gear as the rain has started to fall.
126 km to go: The gap to the breakaway trio is now 4-45. The mood is calm.
In case you missed it, we had some good news come through in the last hour. Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike, riding outdoors, and aiming for the Tour de France next month.
"I still have some things to recover from, but it's going better and better," he said.
Read the full story on our website now.
Tadej Pogačar is nestled in the peloton. Will we see another move in the finale? He vowed to go from the gun last night...
🤫 The boy's a liar #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/owYDVYL4ztMay 7, 2024
110 km to go: Muñoz, Calmejane and De Bod now have a 5-23 advantage over the peloton. Muñoz just won the intermediate sprint, with little fuss from the others.
108 km to go: There's a decent tussle for the remaining points at the imtermediate sprint. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) comes out on top, ahead Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).
Do you subscribe to our Leadout newsletter? Every week, Cycling Weekly news editor publishes a column, which you can get delivered straight to your inbox.
This week's is about Tadej Pogačar, and how the only person who can threaten him at this Giro d'Italia is... Tadej Pogačar.
"His energy, unlike his desire, cannot be limitless," writes Adam.
Read the full article on our website.
102 km to go: Calmejane crests the third-category climb first. A bit of downhill will follow, before a flatter run-in to the line. Will there be a scrap for mountains points in the peloton?
99 km to go: There was no race to the top, but a lot of muscling over who gets to lead the descent. Poor Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) lost the wheel on the climb and is being paced back on by his team-mates.
84.5 km to go: The riders are off the Colle del Melogno and onto the little uncategorised kicker on the other side.
Jakobsen is still off the back and has now been joined by Narvaez from Ineos Grenadiers. The Ecuadorian former pink jersey winner hit the deck in a small crash on the descent just now.
Lewis Askey from Groupama FDJ is at the back of the main field calling for the team car. Looks like he's got an issue with the gears on his Willier bike.
Narvaez is back with another FDJ rider and closing in on the back of the main field. The riders are gradually on the long descent down towards the flatter terrain. Ethan Vernon of Israel-Premier Tech was also involved in the same crash as Narvaez.
77km to go: The roads are nice and slick as the riders head down towards the coast roads. De Bod, Calmejane and Munoz are still up ahead with a lead of 3:36
Askey and Narvaez are both safely back in the main field.
Visma-Lease a Bike are really driving the pace on the front of the bunch. Lidl-Trek are also present. Olav Kooij and Jonathan Milan must both be feeling particularly fresh today.
73km to go: Munoz has just swept up the points available at the Intergiro sprint competition.
71km to go: The peloton have just sped through the Intergiro sprint. Christophe Laporte teed up Kooij to perfection for the Dutchman to sweep up any remaining points.... Im not sure there were any at that point!
The weather has gone from bad to worse. The rain is absolutely lashing down now.
Here's a shot of the breakaway. Calmejane has just dropped away but isnt too far behind Munoz and De Bod.
Big crash in the main field! That was going to happen sooner rather than later with the roads as wet as they are.
Ben O'Connor is involved along with Matteo Trentin, Biniam Girmay and others.
Doesn't look good for Girmay at all. He's grimacing and shaking his head. Looks like he's got an issue with his right leg.
Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) was also involved.
Girmay's leg looks pretty sore. Looks like it could be a nasty gash on his hip but surprisingly he's back on the bike.
64km to go: Really amazed Girmay was able to climb back onto his bike and get going again. He looked like he was in quite a bit of pain.
Oh no! Girmay has gone down again!
Not what you want at all!
It looked like his bike just slipped from under him on the wet roads.
59km to go: Meanwhile the two remaining leaders have just gone through Savona and the last sprint point of the day.
Biniam Girmay has abandoned the race. He's still with medics on the road and doesn't look like he'll be getting back on the bike this time.
Meanwhile Visma are absolutely ripping it through Savona. A bit of a split has formed in the main field as a result of the upturn in pace and the crashes on the road.
54.3 km to go: Trek are on the front of the peloton now and riding hard.
2:19 to De Bod and Munoz.
Here's some footage of Girmay just now for those unable to watch the television pictures.
💔 2 consecutive crashes, and the end of the #GirodItalia for @GrmayeBiniam, forced to leave the race❤️🩹 Heal up quickly Bini, see you in 2025 #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/bGORQ8JXy2May 7, 2024
The race is actually now rolling along terrain that is often used in Milan-San Remo. The peloton will actually tackle the Capo Mele towards the end of the stage, a climb synonymous with the Italian Monument.
Typically, the Capo Mele features just prior to the double header of the Cipressa and Poggio in San Remo.
The Capo Mele comes just 3 kilometres from the line which could be interesting. If anyone is going to disrupt the sprinters today, that's the place to do it.
Turns out that Torstein Træen of Bahrain Victorious also didn't start today's stage. Suffering from a knee injury apparently.
🇮🇹 #Giro | ST 04🗣️ Hear from @Torsteintren as he was forced to abandon today’s stage @giroditalia due to the knee injury he suffered after his crash in the opening stage.#RideAsOne #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/caDBzccQjMMay 7, 2024
29 km to go: Visma are gradually destroying the breakaways lead on this coast road. De Bod and Munoz have 1:27 now but thats gradually going down.
19 km to go: Bike change for Magnus Sheffield (Ineos grenadiers) as the pace really ramps up
14km to go: It's nearly all over for De Bod and Munoz now. They've got just 27 seconds left of their advantage
6km to go: The two leaders have been caught. Great effort from Munoz and De Bod but it was never going to happen for them.
4.5km to go: The peloton are onto the Capo Mele. Visma have led the bunch on. Ineos Grenadiers are also present and Ganna has launched a huge move!!
Wow! That's a huge turn of speed from Ganna!!! He's got a huge gap!
A Bora-Hansgrohe rider is trying to bridge across
A Bardiani rider is coming across. I think that's Filippo Fiorelli.
Ganna is onto the descent now. This could be THE move.
Ganna's been caught! The sprinters are about to launch!
Here we go!
JONATHAN MILAN WINS FOR LIDL-TREK!
That was some effort from the bunch to catch Ganna and an incredible leadout from Lidl-Trek
We'll have a full report on the site shortly
Here's our report of the day's action.
Join us again for coverage of stage five between Genova and Lucca tomorrow.
