Giro d'Italia Live: Rubio wins reduced stage 13; Thomas keeps hold of the pink jersey; Pinot and Capeda miss out on stage in bad-tempered battle; Pedersen abandons; Evenepoel Tour of Britain-bound?

START DELAYED AND ROUTE REVISED DUE TO WEATHER

The unfortunate news at the start of the day is that stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia has been significantly shortened.

The Colle del Gran San Bernardo has been taken out of the route, and the start moved from Borgofranco d’Ivrea to the bottom of the Croix de Coeur in Switzerland.

That means the stage will be cut from the planned 199km, to around just 80km.

The decision was made due to the very bad weather that continues to affect the Giro, with the high pass and descent of Gran San Bernardo deemed too dangerous. 

The Gran San Bernardo, which was supposed to be the Cima Coppi as the highest point of the race, was already due to be shortened slightly due to snow.

There was some speculation this morning that the stage might not go ahead at all, but the riders are now due to start from the neutralised zone shortly after 10pm.

After that, they will take team buses to the new location of the official start at 13:24.

From then, all being well, we’ll have some racing to report.

The riders are currently standing waiting in the rain at the unofficial start. You do have to wonder whether going ahead with the neutralised start really is necessary, as once they’ve ridden a couple of hundred metres they’ll hop back off and head immediately back to the team buses to be driven to the new official start at the bottom of the Croix de Coeur. Most are being sheltered under umbrellas and looking very cold. The quirks of professional cycling, eh?

That’s that done then. The riders are dismounting and scrambling to get back into the shelter and warmth of their team buses.

They’ll make their way to the new start, and resume the real racing in about three hours. In the meantime, we’ll update you with what else is going on in the world of cycling.

ARTURO GRAVALOS PASSES AWAY

Unfortunately, there’s some sad news to report first. The EOLO-Kometa rider Arturo Grávalos has passed away.

The 25-year-old had been diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2021. Despite having initial success in surgery, several more were required in order to try to remove the tumour. 

The Spaniard joined the team as an under-23 rider in 2019, and was riding for the senior team before the conditon brought his career to an abrupt hault. 

His EOLO-Kometa team stated that “Life put many obstacles in front of him in recent years, and he always, always, reacted with the best of his face, overcoming them with the greatest of positivism. 

“Armed with his huge smile, his closeness and his frankness, he was all about building, supporting, praising and thanking. We will never forget you, Arturo. Rest in peace.”

PEDERSEN ABANDONS THE RACE

There is one non-starter to report today, and it’s a big one: Mads Pedersen.

The Dane has pulled out of the race having been suffering with sickness. It’s been confirmed that it’s not the Covid bus that has swept through the peloton this Giro, but another illness, which he and his Trek-Segafredo team have deemed as making it impossible to continue racing.

Pedersen has enjoyed a successful race, winning stage six in Napoli, as well as 

As recently as yesterday he looked in good knick, managing to get into the breakaway that formed at the start of stage 12. 

He had also been second in the points classification, and had designs on winning that competition, but will now head home instead and recoup ahead of his ext major goal of the season, the Tour de France.

His withdrawal means that Jonathan Milan now has a convincing lead of 76 points ahead of the next next place rider, Pascal Ackermann.