The Giro is finely poised here. Leader Mikel Nieve is on his way up to Cervinia already. Not long now before we see what Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin have left.

What about Chris Froome I hear you say? Well the maglia rosa is just over eight minutes back and is surrounded by a posse of Team Sky domestiques.

He's just stretched his legs a little to push towards the head of a flotilla of the main contenders. Still no sign of a move from his main rival Tom Dumoulin.

The Team Sunweb rider has to find 40-plus seconds on Froome to lead the general classification going into the final stage tomorrow.

Mikel Nieve may be 34 now but he's not bad in the mountains. The former Team Sky rider helped Chris Froome to victory in the Tour de France as one of his domestiques.

And he's also won the Mountains classification in this race before.

He's over the Col Saint Pantaleone and is descending at about 40mph! Can anyone stop him today?

Austrian climber Felix Grosschartner is about 35 seconds back.

Could it be a time trial to the finish here for Mitchelton-Scott's Mikel Nieve?

Mikel Nieve is on the move. He puts his foot on the gas and though Felix Grosschartner goes with him, it's too much for Gianluca Brambilla, who is dropped.

The Mitchelton–Scott rider puts in a second burst and now the Austrian climber, Grosschartner, falls away. The Spaniard could be on his way to a stage victory here.

It looks as though the second climb of the day is taking its toll on the riders behind stage leader Matej Mohoric.

A group of nine has now been reduced to three with Felix Grosschartner, Mikel Nieve and Gianluca Brambilla remaining in touch with the Slovenian about 18 seconds back.

John: Chapeau to the race organisers for leaving all the drama till the last few stages. The TdF is usually over by this stage. Can see Chris Froome holding on with all the experience he has but you never know. Great racing ahead.

Big problems for Groupama-FDJ rider Thibaut Pinot. The Frenchman is third in the overall standings at the moment but he is all over the place - nearly crashing into his team car.

It's only the second climb and he's cracked. He could face big losses with 40km to go. At the moment he's lost about a minute in one kilometre.

It looks like there are a lot of tired legs out on the road as the riders tackle the second of three category one climbs at the end of this stage and almost three gruelling weeks on the road.

What do we think? Can we expect another twist to this tour and what's the toughest climb or race you've participated in?

Matej Mohori, Bahrain–Merida's 23-year-old Slovenian rider and the current leader on the day - has just started his ascent of Col Saint Pantaleone.

He has a gap of around 35 seconds to a group of nine chasing riders (I'll confirm who they are shortly) with the main peloton about six minutes back.

The last three winners of the Giro d'Italia - Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Tom Dumoulin - were all behind at this stage of the race.

Team Sky's Chris Froome will be hoping that recent history does not repeat itself this afternoon after his heroics from yesterday as he bids to emulate Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault, the only riders to have won three Grand Tours in succession.

The Col Saint Pantaléone and the final rise to Cervinia will determine that here though....

Or could the weather, with rain apparently on the horizon for the final climb, also play a part?

The main group of riders have just gone over the top of the first climb of the day - Col Tsecore, the first of three category 1 climbs - which has stretched out over 16km

The Col Saint Pantaléone, the final rise to Cervinia and the snow of the Alps are still to come.

There are currently nine riders up the road from the peloton with a 5m 35s gap to the main group, which Team Sky's Chris Froome is currently safely tucked away in, albeit descending a mountain is never that comfortable!

Good afternoon. After Chris Froome's exploits yesterday it really is a case of all or nothing again today.

With only a final procession in Rome to come, the 2018 Giro effectively ends atop of Cervinia this afternoon.