Jonas Abrahamsen again pushes the pace for the escapees and is unchallenged as he collects another couple of KOM points.

Those at the front will surely be trying to work out their tactics now for the finale and the two climbs up to the sanctuary of San Luca.

The breakaway hit the third rise in the road today, the Cote de Botteghino di Zocca (1.9km at 6.9%).

Will anyone attempt to reduce this group down here or on the Cote de Montecalvo, which will come up shortly?

Image source, Getty Images

Will someone in the leading group be eyeing glory? They have approaching a nine-and-a-half minute gap to the peloton.

That will be reduced significantly at the business end of the race but the way things are looking they surely won't be reeled back in.

The peloton had brought the breakaway’s advantage down to five and a half minutes but it’s back out to over eight minutes now.

There are two category three and two category four climbs still to come.

Wout van Aert is having running repairs. The Belgian is having his thigh sprayed presumably with some sort of antiseptic as he heads towards the back of the main bunch.

Matteo Jorgenson, another key player for the Visma-Lease a Bike team is also having a couple of body parts sprayed.

Apparently Van Aert was riding at 56 km/h when he crashed. He's done well to come out of that relatively unscathed.

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Laurens de Plus is down after crossing wheels in the main bunch. The Ineos Grenadiers climber has cuts and bruises over his arm and looks shaken and a little narked by that.

His fellow Belgian Wout van Aert also looks as though he's hit the tarmac but gives a thumbs up as he gets back under way.

Jonas Abrahamsen with some cannibal like behaviour as he throws in a last-minute burst to nick the intermediate sprint.

Apparently the 28-year-old Norwegian was a 60kg climber a few years back but has gone back to a more natural weight closer to 80kg these days.

Now after that earlier incident when a fan almost sent an EF Education-EasyPost rider tumbling trying to record the peloton on her phone, the race organisers have tweeted: "Please respect the riders, stay away from the road!"

The 10 adventurers at the front of the race now reach Imola's famous motor racing circuit as shots of a shrine to the three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna hit our screens.

The Brazilian great died in an accident while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

With the wind picking up all the main GC teams are up at the front of the peloton, which has had the knock-on effect of whittling the breakaway's advantage down to five minutes and 25 seconds.

Mark Cavendish is again off the back after the second climb along with the likes of Fabio Jakobsen and Sam Bennett.

It is indeed another two points for the polka dot jersey, Jonas Abrahamsen, who pulls the remaining members of the break up the second climb of the day.

Shades of Tim Declercq, whose nickname is El Tractor, in the way the Norwegian is riding at present.

The speed shifts up a gear as the Cote de Gallisterna approaches. Jonas Abrahamsen will want another couple of points atop this short punchy ascent.

No dramas at all for Mark Cavendish, who is piloted back into the main group.

Mark Cavendish is distanced by the main bunch on the first climb of the day as the pace goes up a notch.

The Manxman has several teammates for company along with the likes of Latvian all rounder Tom Skujins and Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen, but they should soon be back on.

The breakaway riders head over the Cote de Monticino minus Bram Welten who is dropped and Jonas Abrahamsen sprints to hoover up the two KOM points on offer.

Judging by pictures I've just seen it looks like a fan's arm looks caught an EF Education-EasyPost rider while she was trying to record or photograph the race going past on her phone.

The spectator in question was probably quite lucky there was no pile up. It brought back memories of 2021 when a French woman was fined €1,200 ($1,357; £1,028) for causing a huge crash on stage one, by waving a cardboard sign in the riders' path.

The breakaway's advantage is holding at a smidgen over eight minutes as the first climb of the day, the Cote de Monticino, a short 2km push up an average gradient of 7.5% comes into play.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

We are of course in typical Giro d'Italia territory but when the Tour de France rolls by there is only one show in town.

Signs that the wind is starting to pick up. The prospect of echelons is an interesting little sub plot for later.

Image source, Getty Images

He could not have done it without Frank van den Broek of course but Romain Bardet will feel that wearing the maillot jaune has been a long time coming.

The 33-year-old won the polka dot jersey competition in 2019 and has been second or third in no less than 20 stages over the last 10 years.

The four-time stage winner first occupied one of the top three places in the GC race in Chamrousse a decade ago.