Jai Hindley on verge of history as Australian takes Giro d'Italia lead after Richard Carapaz cracks

• Jai Hindley storms into pink jersey with one stage to go

• Richard Carapaz cracks, losing 1min 28sec on final climb

• Mikel Landa still third, but closes gap on Carapaz to 26sec

• Alessandro Covi wins final mountain stage at the Giro

• Stage-by-stage details | Remaining riders | Latest results

Jai Hindley is poised to become the first Australian winner of the Giro d'Italia after taking control of the race on the penultimate stage in the Dolomites.

The Bora-Hansgrohe rider began the day three seconds behind Richard Carapaz of Ineos Grenadiers but surged ahead of his rival on the final climb of the Passo Fedaia.

With only a 17.4 kilometres time trial in Verona to come on Sunday, Hindley's lead of 1min 25sec should be ample to see him secure a first grand tour victory.

The 26-year-old wore the maglia rosa at the same stage two years ago only to lose out to Britain's Tao Geoghegan Hart but, on that occasion, the pair were level on time heading into the final day.

Hindley said: "It's the most beautiful jersey in cycling in my opinion. It's a privilege and an honour to wear this again.

"It was a bumpy road back here and I didn't know if I was going to get a chance to wear this again but it's just an incredible feeling.

"We had a plan and we stuck to our guns. The team were phenomenal, not just today but the whole three weeks, they've looked after me so well.

"It's not over, there's a hard day tomorrow and I'm going to give it everything in the time trial."

Victory on the stage went to Italian Alessandro Covi, riding for UAE Team Emirates, who was part of an early breakaway and made his move on the penultimate climb before holding on comfortably for victory.
PA

Giro d'Italia stage 20: As it happened . . .

03:16 PM

Hindley leads Giro, Carapaz drops to second

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) will take a 1min 25sec lead over Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) into Sunday's time trial around Verona. Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) keeps hold of third on general classification, but closes the gap on Carapaz to 26sec.

Speaking immediately after that quite remarkable ride, Hindley who will become the first Australian to win the Giro d'Italia on Sunday – barring any disasters, said he would "die for the jersey tomorrow”, while team-mate Lennard Kämna described the stage as "perfect".

"I knew it was gonna be the crucial stage with a brutal finish," added Hindley. "If I had the legs, I could make a difference and I did. We saved ourselves for today and it went perfect. We had Lenny Kämna in the front. He was a great help when we caught him. He couldn't have timed it better when he dropped back. It was an epic stage.

"It's hard to say how a time trial will go at the end of three weeks of racing but I'll die for the maglia rosa."

"It was absolutely amazing," said Kämna. "Everything worked out perfectly and it couldn’t be better. It was the tactics. I wanted to join the break. I was in the break and I was waiting for 3km to go. I did one really hard pull, all out, Carapaz was dropped and then Jai could take time. I was a bit surprised but on the other hand I was super happy about it. For us, it was a dream scenario.

"It’s perfect, it couldn’t be better."

03:13 PM

Hindley takes hold of pink

What a performance from Jai Hindley and his Bora-Hansgrohe team. Hugh Carthy is following along with Mikel Landa, but there is no sign of Richard Carapaz. Landa may be taking second. Let's see . . .

03:11 PM

Covi wins stage 20 at the Giro d'Italia!

What a performance from Italian rider Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) who has not only took the Cima Coppi prize here today, but also won one of the toughest stage at this year's Giro d'Italia, and the first WorldTour victory of his career.

"I came close to winning a stage of the Giro on two occasions last year," Covi said. "I wanted to win this year as well but I was racing for Joao Almeida who unfortunately had to leave the race. Today was an opportunity. I attacked from far away because I am not a climber. I rode pretty well in the last climb. It's fantastic for the team to win a stage and particularly this one in the mythical mountains."

03:09 PM

500 metres to go

Jai Hindley is riding into the leader's pink jersey here today, a garment he wore ahead of the final time trial in Milan in 2020, though on that occasion he went into the final stage on, more or less, the same time as eventual winner Tao Geoghegan Hart. Right now, Hindley leads Richard Carapaz by over 40sec now. What drama.

03:08 PM

1km to go

Alessandro Covi still leads Domen Novak by 32sec and is surely going to win the stage, but forgive me because today is all about Jai Hindley who has gained over 30sec on the maglia rosa who is labouring. It very much looks like the Australian will be wrestling that pink jersey off the shoulders of Richard Carapaz shortly.

03:05 PM

1.4km to go

Jai Hindley has gained over 20sec on Richard Carapaz. Carapaz beat Hindley by 6sec in the stage two time trial which is roughly half the length of Sunday's race of truth and so, by my rudimentary calculations, I reckon he needs to gain around 30sec to be assured of winning the Giro – or at least comfortable going into tomorrow.

03:05 PM

1.7km to go

Lennard Kämna has peeled off, while Jai Hindley is burying himself knowing he could become the first Australian to win the Giro d'Italia in Verona tomorrow. What a performance this is from the 26-year-old from Perth who, let's face it, has not put a foot wrong over the last three weeks of racing. But can he finish this off?

03:04 PM

1.9km to go

Richard Carapaz has cracked. But is Jai Hindley riding into pink?

03:03 PM

2.2km to go

Lennard Kämna is riding hard, pulling his team-mate Jai Hindley up this horribly steep climb, but can the Bora-Hansgrohe pair get rid of Richard Carapaz and put a serious dent into the Ecuadorian's ambitions of winning a second Giro d'Italia in Verona on Sunday?

03:02 PM

2.5km to go

Jai Hindley attacks, Richard Carapaz jumps onto his wheel. But a statuesque Mikel Landa appears motionless. Lennard Kämna drops back to help his team-mate. Textbook tactics from Bora-Hansgrohe.

02:59 PM

3km to go

Richard Carapaz, Jai Hindley, Mikel Landa, Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Jan Hirt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) – that's the order of the general classification riders and the sum total number of riders who can keep up with the pace being set by the Ineos Grenadiers gregario Pavel Sivakov. Domen Novak, meanwhile, is 52sec off the wheel of stage leader Alessandro Covi.

02:57 PM

3.5km to go

Alessandro Covi leads the stage, the Italian is being pursued by Domen Novak (1min 12sec) while Thymen Arensman and Giulio Ciccone are attempting to chase. Ben Tulett does a short turn, before Pavel Sivakov returns to the front. Jai Hindley is isolated, he has no team-mates to lean on on this final slow-motion fight all the way to the line, but Lennard Kämna is still up the road somewhere. Is this the time for Bora-Hansgrohe to play their joker card?

02:55 PM

4km to go

Domen Novak is out of his saddle, grinding his way up this climb that is well into double digits. Further back in the peloton, Pavel Sivakov is pressing on, Jai Hindley is glued to the wheel of Richard Carapaz like a well aged tubular, not giving an inch of road away.

02:53 PM

4.5km to go

Domen Novak launches himself out of the chasing group, suggesting he is not being deployed as a satellite rider today. The Slovenian, however, trails Alessandro Covi by 1min 20sec.

02:50 PM

5.5km to go

Some cagey riding back in the group of maglia rosa Richard Carapaz. Alessandro Covi is onto the steepest half of the climb, his advantage over the chasers has now dropped to 1min 50sec.

02:48 PM

6km to go

Alessandro Covi hits the short flattish section that precedes the steepest and most hellish part of this climb. This is its profile . . .

02:46 PM

6.5km to go

Santiago Buitrago, the young Colombian climber who won a stage midweek, is riding on the front for Bahrain Victorious, followed by Pello Bilbao and then team leader Mikel Landa. Further up the road another Bahrain Victorious rider – Domen Novak – is looking good.

02:45 PM

7.2km to go

Davide Formolo has been dropped from the chasing group, as has Antonio Pedrero.

02:44 PM

7.5km to go

Alessandro Covi's advantage drops to 2min 20sec.

02:42 PM

8km to go

Mikel Landa rides at second wheel in the peloton, further back young Briton Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers) leans over before tightening his shoe straps. Everybody is watching each other, but who – if anybody – is going to launch an attack? Alessandro Covi gains another 10sec on the chasers, his lead grows out to 2min 30sec.

02:40 PM

9km to go

Lennard Kämna drifts back from the chasing group. Have his legs gone, or is he dropping back to help out Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Jai Hindley? I suspect the latter, but let's wait and see if the man who won on Mount Etna in the opening week of the race has enough left in the tank to help Hindley. Alessandro Covi leads by 2min 19sec.

02:38 PM

10km to go

Koen Bouwman is dropped but I suspect he will not care a jot about that having become the first Dutchman to win the the mountains classification at the Giro d'Italia. Ben Swift hangs towards the rear of the peloton, but is labouring. Cannot see him being much help to Richard Carapaz from hereon in, but the Yorkshireman has done brilliantly to hold onto the climbers' coattails for this long.

02:36 PM

10.5km to go

Giulio Ciccone is out of his saddle, peering over his left shoulder staring into the eyes Thymen Arensman. Nobody, though, responds to Ciccone's goading.

02:34 PM

11.5km to go

Giulio Ciccone kicks, before Davide Formolo jumps onto his compatriot's wheel. Moments later, Ciccone goes again . . . Davide Ballerini and Sam Ooomen are dropped.

02:32 PM

13km to go

Alessandro Covi is onto the Passo Fedaia, the climb that is also known as the Marmolada, and has a 2min 20sec lead over Davide Ballerini who has now been caught by Giulio Ciccone. The peloton is at 6min 4sec, so suspect they will be having their own battle behind the stage winner in a short while. Unless Covi blows up entirely.

02:29 PM

14km to go

Davide Ballerini, who remember was doing huge turns on the front of the breakaway earlier this afternoon, has caught and gone straight through the chasing group. Don't think that necessarily means he has been pushing hard, but more an indication of how limp the efforts of the chasing group have been.

02:26 PM

16km to go

Richard Carapaz has three Ineos Grenadiers team-mates – Jonathan Castroviejo, Pavel Sivakov and Ben Tulett – alongside him, while Jai Hindley has just two. Both teams are still sat, tucked in behind, on the wheels of four Bahrain Victorious riders.

02:24 PM

19km to go

Is Alessandro Covi fading now the road has started to rise on the approach to the day's final climb?

02:22 PM

20km to go

He is still descending, still gaining time on the chasing group.

02:20 PM

23.5km to go

The peloton sweeps beyond Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën) who had been riding in no man's land after they were dropped earlier. Alessandro Covi's lead has grown out to 2min 24sec and the peloton is inching a little closer to Giulio Ciccone's group.

02:18 PM

Incoming final Passo Fedaia climb . . .

02:16 PM

25km to go

Giulio Ciccone is not happy, the Italian wants the rest of the group to contribute to the chase. But what does he expect? Only Thymen Arensman and the two Jumbo-Visma team-mates Gijs Leemreize and Sam Ooomen can really be expected to help out. Anyway, they trail stage leader Alessandro Covi by 2min 9sec now – but we still have the small matter of the Passo Fedaia to come.

02:08 PM

30km to go

Alessandro Covi gains more time, the Italian leads the stage by 1min 48sec. The peloton is at 6min 2sec, a shade over 4min down on the second group on the road – that includes satellite riders Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Domen Novak (Bahrain Victorious).

02:00 PM

37.5km to go

Alessandro Covi leads by 1min 35sec as he flies down the other side of the Pordoi.

01:59 PM

40km to go

Ben Swift has drifted back through the peloton. Richard Carapaz has three or four Ineos Grenadiers team-mates riding in support of him, as does Jai Hindley. Onto the final descent of the Giro d'Italia now. Nervous times, thankfully the road is dry and not too technical – sweeping roads with a fairly decent surface.

01:57 PM

41km to go

The broad-shouldered Wout Poels just keeps pulling, the Dutchman is setting a high tempo as they near the summit of the climb. Ben Swift, the British national champion, is still there for Ineos Grenadiers which is good news for Richard Carapaz, while it looks like Jai Hindley has three team-mates assisting him.

01:53 PM

Forza Covi!

Over the top of Pordoi goes Alessandro Covi. The passionate tifosi cheer on the Italian as he takes the Cima Coppi prize, and why not. The UAE Team Emirates rider leads the second group on the road by 1min 28sec, the peloton is at 5min 50sec.

01:48 PM

47km to go

Gijs Leemreize and Sam Ooomen are back on. Alessandro Covi gain a few more seconds as he reaches the magic 2,000 metre above sea level marker in the stage. The peloton trails by 5min 53sec, but is only about 4min 30sec off the back of the Giulio Ciccone group.

01:46 PM

47.5km to go

Alessandro Covi is climbing really well, a nice fluid pedal stoke, spinning away up the road while that sextet of chasers fail to really organise themselves. As a result, the UAE Team Emirtaes rider has gained 1min 5sec. Jumbo-Visma team-mates Gijs Leemreize and Sam Ooomen, meanwhile, appear to be closing in on the second group.

01:37 PM

State of play at the front of the race . . .

Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) leads the stage.

Thymen Arensman (DSM), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Domen Novak (Bahrain Victorious) and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) follow at 17sec. With general classification team-mates further back, neither Kämna nor Novak will be expected to help with the chase, while Formolo, in theory, cannot chase his team-mate Covi who leads the stage. Arensman and Ciccone will have to set the tempo if they want to rein Covi back in if they want to contest the stage win.

Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma) and Sam Ooomen (Jumbo-Visma) another 20sec down the road.

Peloton is at 5min 41sec, Bahrain Victorious set the pace. Ineos Grenadiers and Bora-Hansgrohe appear to be getting a free ride.

01:33 PM

52km to go

Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma), Sam Ooomen (Jumbo-Visma) and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) have all lost contact with the reduced breakaway. Back in the peloton, meanwhile, Wout Poels has regained contact with his Bahrain Victorious team-mates and the big Dutchman is on the front. Impressive comeback that.

01:31 PM

53km to go

Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) is the latest rider to go solo. The 23-year-old Italian won two lower level races earlier this season – both in Spain – and much is expected of the young climber. But can he take the Cima Coppi prize at the top of this climb?

01:28 PM

54km to go

Edoardo Zardini, the 32-year-old with just two wins on his palmarès – a stage at the Giro del Trentino and one at the Tour of Britain, both in 2014 – is reined back in.

01:26 PM

54.5km to go

Edoardo Zardini (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli) clips off on his lonesome. Almost immediately, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) pops out of the back. And then there were 13.

01:25 PM

55km to go

Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën) is the first victim of the horribly steep Pordoi. The Italian was dropped by the breakaway pretty much as soon as the climb 'proper' reared up. Davide Ballerini, a classics rider and decent sprinter, just keeps pulling for his Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl team-mate Mauri Vansevenant – while the rest of the break are also benefiting from his hard work.

01:21 PM

55.5km to go

One of the strangest things to note from the peloton, is that fact that Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) has spent long periods of the stage up near the front. Can't for the life of me work out why he's mixing it up with the general classification riders today.

01:17 PM

58.5km to go

The breakaway's lead has dropped to a shade above 5min.

01:13 PM

61.5km to go

The breakaway is just 5km from the start of the official climb towards the Passo Pordoi. Davide Ballerini hunches over the hoods, keeping himself as narrow as possible as he cuts through the wind with his Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl team-mate Mauri Vansevenant tucked in on his wheel. Wout Poels, by the way, is back in the peloton but not at the pointy end, while following the early scare for Bora-Hansgrohe, it appears that Jai Hindley has the majority of his team-mates – other than Lennard Kämna who is in the breakaway, presumably acting as a satellite rider – on duty alongside him.

01:07 PM

65km to go

Jasha Sütterlin pulls the Bahrain Victorious-powered peloton, the German is followed by Colombian team-mate Santiago Buitrago, then the team's two Spaniards Pello Bilbao and Mikel Landa follow. One thing that may prove decisive later in the stage is the fact that Dutchman Wout Poels has lost contact with the group. Starting to wonder if all this heavy lifting being done by Bahrain Victorious is just playing into the hands of Richard Carapaz and Jai Hindley who are both getting free rides here today, thus far at least.

01:03 PM

67.5km to go

The road has started to rise again – of course it has, there's over 4,500 metres in vertical gain in this behemoth of a stage – as it nears the start of the second major climb of the day, the Pordoi. This mountain will pass over the highest point of this year’s race – the Cima Coppi – after hauling themselves up the 11.3km long climb that has an average gradient of 6.5%. The gap between the breakaway and the peloton has dropped to 5min 35sec.

12:58 PM

70km to go

The breakaway's lead has grown out a little further, to 6min 2sec.

12:56 PM

72.5km to go

Jasha Sütterlin pulls on the front of the peloton, followed by two team-mates and the Bahrain Victorious leader Mikel Landa. Tucked in behind are Ineos Grenadiers, then Bora-Hansgrohe.

12:53 PM

Bella Italia!

12:49 PM

80km to go

Having crested the San Pellegrino climb, the descending breakaway has pulled out another 30sec or so on the peloton which now has three Bahrain Victorious riders positioned on the front. Speaking to Eurosport, Mikel Landa says he thinks "today can be different" to yesterday's stage where he was unable to distance Richard Carapaz or Jai Hindley, but is backing himself to do "something".

12:43 PM

85km to go

Davide Formolo drifts off the front of the break to take maximum points in the mountains classification. This is another competition, though, that has been sewn up, mathematically at least, by Koen Bouwman who won a second stage at this year's Giro on Friday.

12:37 PM

87.5km to go

The peloton inches it way up the slow incline toward the summit of the Passo San Pellegrino, Bahrain Victorious are still setting the pace with a single rider on the front, that group trails the stage leaders by 5min 30sec.

12:31 PM

The final climb . . .

12:27 PM

Mountain scenes

12:26 PM

90km to go

Not too much happening back in the bunch right now, though it was interesting to hear Bradley Wiggins saying on Eurosport that he had seen Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan) having a chat with Mikel Landa. Obviously nobody knows what was said between the pair, but you have to wonder if the wily old Italian is plotting an almighty Hail Mary to end all Hail Marys along with his Basque counterpart.

12:19 PM

92km to go

Davide Ballerini is pulling on the front of the breakaway, his jersey unzipped and flapping in the wind, as he yet again rides hard on behalf of a team-mate. Today it is for Mauri Vansevenant, but the young Belgian will have to do the ride of his life today if he is to win the first grand tour stage of his career. Peloton is at 5min 38sec.

12:10 PM

95km to go

Jai Hindley gives the TV cameras a smile and a wave, by contrast the maglia rosa is a picture of concentration a few wheels up the pack from his Australian rival of the Bora-Hansgrohe team.

12:09 PM

97.5km to go

The breakaway is stretched out in a long line as they chip away at this longish haul up towards the Passo San Pellegrino. They have lost around 45sec on the peloton. I suspect this 15-man group will shell a few riders once they reach the summit.

12:00 PM

100km to go

The breakaway has started to climb, up towards the category one Passo San Pellegrino which has a few little steps in it, with the steepest section reaching gradients of 15% in the second half of the ascent. The breakaway's advantage has dropped to below 6min now – advantage peloton who, once they start riding hard, should be able to wipe that out fairly swiftly on these steep climbs at high altitude.

11:50 AM

104km to go

The rain has stopped and the riders thankfully have dry roads to play with. The breakaway has passed through the intermediate sprint – won by Davide Ballerini – but other than a few euros for the prize pot, that will mean little given the points competition has already been sewn up by Arnaud Démare, with the usual caveat that the Groupama-FDJ still has to complete the race on Sunday to take home his blue jersey.

11:40 AM

110km to go

The first climb of the day, the category one Passo San Pellegrino which is 16.9km long long with an average gradient of 6.3%, is on the horizon. The breakaway has a 6min 15sec lead over the peloton, and there is some serious horsepower up at the head of the stage. Three of the breakaway – Giulio Ciccone, Lennard Kämna and Mathieu van der Poel – have won stages at this year's race, while Davide Formolo and Andrea Vendrame have Giro stages on their respective palmarès. Thymen Arensman narrowly missed out on a mountain stage midweek, while Gijs Leemreize has also impressed on the high roads.

11:30 AM

As it stands . . .

It was a nervy start to the stage with a few riders putting is some early digs in an effort to get into the day's breakaway.

There were some early rain drops falling, while mountains were spotted shrouded in cloud. After almost three weeks of warm weather, today's venture into the almighty Dolomites may  see the first proper downpours the peloton has had to deal with. Worth mentioning, too, that today will be the first stage where the riders go above 2,000 metres above sea level which may suit the likes of Ecuadorian rider Richard Carapaz who was born in the city of Tulcán – at an altitude of 2,980m. By contrast, Jai Hindley grew up in Perth, the coastal city in Western Australia, roughly 2,970 metres lower than the man he trails by just 3sec.

Dries De Bondt (Alpecin Fenix) and Christopher Juul-Jensen (Bike Exchange) had a little pop, but the pair were soon reined back in before a quintet – Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Sam Ooomen (Jumbo-Visma), Mauri Vansevenant (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) and Edoardo Zardini (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli)  – took over on the front. As the road inched up over the first minor hillock in the stage, Patrick Gamper (Bora-Hansgrohe) fell off the back before minutes later another of Hindley's team-mates – Cesare Benedetti – was seen struggling. That could be a result of all of the hard work done by Bora-Hansgrohe yesterday.

Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates), Domen Novak (Bahrain Victorious), Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and a handful of others bridged over to the leading group, while further back a few splits formed. The good news for Jai Hindley and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) was that both had team-mates in the leading group, the bad news was that they also had riders in the third or fourth group on the road.

After about 32km of racing, Ineos Grenadiers fanned themselves out on the front of the peloton in an attempt to slow the race down a little, letting the breakaway gain some more time. That would suggest they are not too concerned – not yet, at least – with the stage win, but instead are focused on controlling the general classification. Once the racing all calmed down a little, the 15-man breakaway found its rhythm before gaining an advantage of 6min 2sec over the maglia rosa after 52km of racing (117km to go). Interesting to note that Bahrain Victorious are riding on the front of the general classification group, in other word the peloton with Raichard Carapaz, Jai Hindley an Mikel Landa, which may mean they are hoping their Basque leader (Landa) is plotting something this afternoon. Remember, Landa trails Carapaz by 1min 5sec and is all but assured third on general classification and so has nothing to lose really, but everything to win if he can pull off the ride of his life once this stage reaches the high mountains.

The breakaway in full . . .

Thymen Arensman (DSM), Davide Ballerini (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Soudal), Domen Novak (Bahrain Victorious), Sam Ooomen (Jumbo-Visma), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Mauri Vansevenant (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl), Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën) and Edoardo Zardini (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli).

06:20 AM

What's on today's menu?

So, what does the stage look like?

Here's what the roadbook says about the stage...

Live stage commentary due to get under way at 12.30pm (BST)

06:15 AM

Catch up: Highlights from Friday's stage

If you were to analyse yesterday's stage from purely looking at the results sheet, then you may be forgiven for thinking little happened in the general classification battle. However, the loss of Richie Porte may cost dearly once Ineos Grenadiers enter the final mountain stage of this year's Giro d'Italia. Equally, it will be interesting to see how Bora-Hansgrohe have recovered following a big day of riding on the front of the peloton. At the pointy end of the race, there was drama as stage winner Koen Bouwman appeared to block Mauro Schmid (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) on the final bend – canny riding or a little bit naughty? – resulting in a moment of chaos that also did for the hopes of Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën) and Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ). On the surface not much happened, in reality it was an enthralling day of racing. Watch the highlights here . . .

06:15 AM

Ciao!

Hello and welcome to our live rolling blog from stage 20 at the Giro d'Italia, the 168km run from Belluno to Marmolada (Passo Fedaia).

Following yesterday's stage, won by Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) after the Dutchman also all but sealed the mountains jersey, the overall winner at this year's Giro could be decided today, or may even go down to the final time trial in Verona on Sunday.

Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) leads, but has Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) breathing down his neck, while Mikel Landa (Bahrain  Victorious) is perfectly positioned to launch an audacious attack at the last, but does he have what it takes to overhaul the deficit he has on the leading pair? Before we have a look at the profile of today's stage, here's a brief look at the standings . . .

Carapaz will be be dressed in the maglia rosa, the leader's pink jersey, for a sixth consecutive day. The Ecuadorian, however, is holding on to that treasured garment by the narrowest thread.

Having finished safely within the time limit, Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) kept hold of the maglia ciclamino, or cyclamen jersey, as leader in the points classification. Providing he completes the race when it concludes in Verona on Sunday, the Frenchman should take it home for a second time after also winning it in 2020.

Having all but sealed the mountains classification, Bouwman will again wear the maglia azzurra, or blue jersey. Should he finish both today and tomorrow's stage within the time limit, he will become the first Dutchman in Giro history to take home the jersey.

Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo) will again wear the maglia bianca, the white jersey, as leader in the youth classification.