The peloton is at full speed alongside the Lake of Como - they'll cover 53-kilometres in the first hour of racing..!
GIROSCENERY
There have been so many attempts to escape - but this one by Tiralongo and Cataldo also fails...
Phillip Deignan has attacked on the pebbled climb into Bergamo Alta...
GIROSHACK
Russell Downing is in fourth place as the climb ends in the old city...
GIROSKY
Alberto Contador has recovered from a bad start and races up the hill towards the front...
GIROMAGLIA
An initial escape of seventeen men in Bergamo has become an escape of four on the Passo di Ganda - Eros Capecchi leads the way...
There's a tiny peloton on the Passo di Ganda - a result of the hill in Bergamo and the steep Ganda pass...
The escape is now just three riders - Seeldrayers leads the way up the climb...
GIROESCAPE
Downing has also been dropped but he'll fight back to take 8th on the stage...
Seeldrayers, Capecchi and Pinotti head towards the summit with a lead of four minutes over the peloton...
Carlos Sastre leads the next chasing group that formed in Bergamo...
GIROGeox
Spezialletti leads the Maglia Rosa group, slowly...
Contador has yet to break into a sweat, despite the steepness of the climb..!
Eros Capecchi wins stage eighteen ahead of Pinotti and Seeldrayers...
GIROLIQUIGAS