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Giro d'Italia Live: Nico Denz wins for Bora-hansgrohe; Bruno Armirail inherits pinks Geraint Thomas hits back at criticism; two more riders leave race; Lorena Wiebes wins yet again; Mathieu van der Poel updates schedule before Tour de France

Follow live updates of the 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia

Welcome to today’s live blog of stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia where the riders have to cross the Simplon Pass before a fast descent and mostly flat final 100km towards the finish in Cassano Magnago.

We’ll have updates throughout the afternoon.

Key updates (all times BST)

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Giro

(Image credit: Getty)

The Giro d’Italia has lost a further two riders this morning, with Astana-Qazaqstan’s Samuele Battistella suffering from gastrointestinal problems and a fever. His team confirmed he had tested negative for Covid-19.

Giro

(Image credit: Getty)

180km to go: Multiple attacks in the peloton but so far no break has managed to get clear.

173km to go: We have around 17 riders in a breakaway and, interestingly, riders from the sprinting teams: Bahrain-Victorious, Astana-Qazaqstan and Jayco-AlUla. That points towards the break triumphing.

170km to go: Bora-hansgrohe's Lennard Kämna, 1-52 off pink, is trying to get away, and his chasing group of around 10 riders has 20 seconds on the peloton. Jumbo-Visma are trying to chase it down, but this looks like it could potentially cause a major shift in the GC race. Ineos Grenadiers have Thymen Arensman present.

162km to go: And the peloton have sat up, and the breakaway of 18 has been formed. Crucially, Kämna and Arensman are back in the peloton.

158km to go: The leading group of 18 looks like it's about to let the nine chasers join, and the peloton has pretty much sat up. Don't be surprised if the day's winner crosses the line 10 minutes ahead of the maglia rosa group.

145km to go: The breakaway of 29 riders has an advantage of around 6-30 to the peloton, but curiously no one in the break has tried to drop Fernando Gaviria of Movistar or Davide Ballerini of Soudal-QuickStep, the sprinters in the pack who will be hoping for a fast finish. 

140km to go: The breakaway cross the summit together, with the exception of Davide Bais (EOLO-Kometa) and Bruno Armirail of Groupama-FDJ who fight it out for the maximum KOM points atop the Passo del Sempione, and it's Bais who takes the 40 on offer.

At the start of today's stage, Geraint Thomas was asked what he makes of criticism by some former riders who were disappointed that stage 13 was shortened.

118km to go: Both the break and the peloton are charging down the descent and are heading back into Italy. So far everyone's making it down safely despite the truly awful conditions.

100km to go: The breakaway has almost 10 minutes on the main peloton as they begin the mostly flat route to the finish in Cassano Magnago.

It's not just the Giro going on today; in Spain it's the third stage of the Vuelta Burgos Feminas, and the breakaway of seven currently have a lead of 43 seconds with 17km left. A sprint, however, looks most likely, with Lorena Wiebes, the leader and winner of stage one, the obvious favourite.

77km to go: The breakaway have a lead of 12 minutes on the peloton and the rain is biblical.

Lorena Wiebes wins stage three of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, taking her second win of the race and maintaining her lead in the general classification.

57km to go: There's now a bit of movement at the front of the breakaway as riders try and make sure Fernando Gaviria of Movistar doesn't win. At the moment we have Laurenz Rex of Intermarché-Circus-Wanty and Stefano Oldani of Alpecin-Deceuninck with a small lead.

48km to go: The group of two has now swelled to four, with Davide Ballerini (Soudal-QuickStep) and Toms Skujinš (Trek-Segafredo) now joining Oldani and Rex. They have 23 seconds on the other breakaway riders.

36km to go: The four out front now have a lead of 45 seconds, while the peloton are some 16 minutes behind. It'd opening the door up to potentially Bruno Armirail jumping into the pink. The Groupama-FDJ rider is 18-37 behind Geraint Thomas.

21km to go: The break of four still has a lead of 50 seconds, but the main interest now is with Armirail who is jumping right up the GC into the top-10, and possibly into pink. The peloton are in no rush...

13km to go: The quartet's advantage has reduced to around 30 seconds, and the chasers from the breakaway are pushing hard to bring it back. The peloton, meanwhile, are approaching a deficit of 20 minutes, meaning Armirail is likely to be heading into the pink jersey.

7km to go: Toms Skujins has tried to distance his breakaway colleagues but Oldani and Ballerini remain with him. 

6km to go: The trio have 18 seconds over the chasing group, but they'd like more given that they'll engage in cat and mouse tactics as the line approaches.

4km to go: The chasers include Bora-hansgrohe's Nico Denz who won stage 12, as well as Alberto Bettiol and Derek Gee. It's going to tight for the three leaders who have a 20 second margin.

1km to go: Will the leaders of three hold on? They have 12 seconds!

Nico Denz wins stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia!

Bruno Armirail crosses the line and he needs Geraint Thomas to cross the line 18-38 adrift.

And it's confirmed, Bruno Armirail is the new leader of the Giro d'Italia, with Geraint Thomas opting to cede pink ahead of tomorrow's tough-looking stage.

Full race report can be viewed here

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