smaller teams means less teams with sprinters and once Bora had dropped half of them (other teams sprinters) on the earlier climbs there was a lack of firepower to bring him back along with letting an eight man break go to start with.

Vinyl trousers today

Brilliant viewing. Well chuffed for him 😁

what a ride great for wanty too

stage 4: Piacenza > Sestola 187.5km

Rugged!

weather looks foul so one for the hardmen.

is 4km @ 10% enough to shake things up ?

Stage 3 Results
1 VAN DER HOORN, Taco (IWG) 4:21:29
2 CIMOLAI, Davide (ISN) + 4
3 SAGAN, Peter (BOH)
4 VIVIANI, Elia (COF)
5 BEVIN, Patrick (ISN)
6 VERMEERSCH, Gianni (AFC)
7 GAVIRIA, Fernando (UAD)
8 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (EFN)
9 OLDANI, Stefano (LTS)
10 MOSCHETTI, Matteo (TFS)

no change in the overall

General Classification after Stage 3
1 GANNA, Filippo (IGD) 8:51:26
2 FOSS, Tobias (TJV) + 16
3 EVENEPOEL, Remco (DQT) + 20
4 ALMEIDA, Joao (DQT)
5 CAVAGNA, Remi (DQT) + 21
6 MOSCON, Gianni (IGD) + 26
7 VLASOV, Aleksandr (APT) + 27
8 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (EFN) + 29
9 CASTROVIEJO, Jonathan (IGD) + 30
10 ULISSI, Diego (UAD) + 32

could be vietnam!

they are some narrow bars !

https://cf.veloviewer.com/embed/segment_21720686_embed_1.htm

Is it going to be Evenepol or Vlasov in the pink at the end of today? Can’t see Ganna holding on.

Remco

Has anyone seen a picture still where Taco looks around sees the bunch too far back and puts his hand to his mouth? Possibly the picture of the Giro if it’s available. (It’s around 5 seconds before he puts his arms out).

someone on twitter grabbed it off the vid

Taco Van Der Hoorn just won a stage of the #Giro and it's my new favorite name in cycling. Love how shocked he was. pic.twitter.com/WGoOdmjTBP

— Justin Britton (@Justin_Britton) May 10, 2021

That’s the image of the stage for me – that delighted, almost embarrassed giggle as he realises he’s going to win

seems everyone wants to be in the break.

25 riders up the road, this should be fun.

Bit wet out there. Too wet for TV coverage, even – glad I’m not riding

I’m going to turn off coverage and come back later gien the lack of live pictures

bloody weather

Yay we’re back again!

it’s going to end in tears, down hill attacks in the rain makes me wince !

squeaky bum time for Remco 😉

oooo that’s a bit of a brute!

Could Intermarche Wanty get a second stage today?

pink clinging on, though they have worked him hard today #disrespect 😉

Could Intermarche Wanty get a second stage today?

They could, but they would settle for pink if BikeExchange do take the stage. it would make sense for the lead pair to work together like that else it’s going to be a harder finish if the chaseing group get back on

Chris looks like his tan has been washed off

Bummer for the front two to get caught so close, but it all makes for exciting racing

cracking race.

Shocker for Almeida. Great to see Remco doing well but will he last the full three weeks?

What’s going on with Quest tonight? Showing stage 1 again!

Yep, a bit of a pain

stage 5: Modena > Cattolica 176.9km

Back on the Flat.

Caleb vs Dylan vs Tim vs Elia vs Giacomo vs Fernando vs Peter?

Stage 4 Results
1 DOMBROWSKI, Joe (UAD) 4:58:38
2 DE MARCHI, Alessandro (ISN) + 13
3 FIORELLI, Filippo (BCF) + 27
4 VERVAEKE, Louis (AFC) + 29
5 TRATNIK, Jan (TBV)
6 VALTER, Attila (GFC) + 44
7 EDET, Nicolas (COF) + 49
8 OLIVEIRA, Nelson (MOV) + 57
9 TAARAMÄE, Rein (IWG) + 1:33
10 JUUL-JENSEN, Christopher (BEX) + 1:36

General Classification after Stage 4
1 DE MARCHI, Alessandro (ISN) 13:50:44
2 DOMBROWSKI, Joe (UAD) + 22
3 VERVAEKE, Louis (AFC) + 42
4 OLIVEIRA, Nelson (MOV) + 48
5 VALTER, Attila (GFC) + 1:00
6 EDET, Nicolas (COF) + 1:15
7 VLASOV, Aleksandr (APT) + 1:24
8 EVENEPOEL, Remco (DQT) + 1:28
9 BETTIOL, Alberto (EFN) + 1:37
10 CARTHY, Hugh (EFN) + 1:38

Bardet seems to be quietly doing well, would love to see him win.

Flat? Sprint? First week? Alpecin Fenix with Tim Merlier again.
Joe Ds win yesterday was deserved and good to see. Wonder how long the break will go for today. Interesting to hear both David Miller on Never Stray Farfalle and Brian what’s his face on Eurosport talk about how rules of thumb for the break away. Hopefully the weather is a bit kinder on the bunch today.

Urgh, these stages are so boring. Can’t get excited about sprint stages at all. I’ll probably only watch the last km. Looks like there’s a pretty straight run-in for the last km, so it’s one for the pure sprinters IMO. Let’s guess at Viviani.

Bardet seems to be quietly doing well, would love to see him win.

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

Looks like there’s a pretty straight run-in for the last km

looks pretty straight full stop 😀

http://www.steephill.tv/2021/giro-d-italia/map-05.jpg

guess they were looking for cross tail winds which they’ve got, a northerly but only @ about 6 mph 🙁

Cross/tail on the run in then cross/head for the sprint according to Matt Stephens on Twitter.

If that’s the case then keeping the break in check might be hard work but I think there’ll be more teams working than there were on Monday to keep it in check.

I think it’s a good day for Caleb Ewan.

Biggest crosswinds mid-stage

Exciting forecast (for the viewers!) at today's #Giro. That red bar at the top shows the likelihood of peloton-splitting crosswinds. Middle of the stage looks the most promising. Lots of exposed sections too.
Full route info: https://t.co/stvP06QwGF pic.twitter.com/vHudmOOrOV

— VeloViewer (@VeloViewer) May 12, 2021

Lorenzo Fortunato riding off the front of the peloton to say hi to his home town. One of the reasons I love this sport.