Welcome to LIVE coverage of stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia - the longest of the race at 254km and, perhaps, another chance for the sprinters to take the spoils ahead of a gruelling weekend in the Alps.

A reminder of the seven leaders who once held a 13-minute lead over the pack, but now just have two minutes to play with: Germany's Danilo Hondo (RadioShack), Spain's Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Sweden's Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos Shimano), Denmark's Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol), Italians Nicola Boem (Bardiani Valvole) and Giairo Ermeti (Androni Giocattoli) and Brazilian Rafael Andriato (Vini Fantini).

The umbrellas are coming up at the finish in Cherasco as one of those scattered showers on the forecast decides to strike. But the riders are still riding under blue skies and bright sun.

GreenEdge and Omega Pharma-Quick Step back on the front of the peloton. The peloton is quite strung out at the moment - in fact, the front is all in single file and the pace is high. While the sun is out, it's much more windy today so the GC favourites will have to be careful not to get caught out in a split today.

The seven leaders are on the first hill before the run down to the first intermediate sprint. Pablo Lastras effortlessly pulls clear of the other escapees and then, after turning around, realises he has left them for dead, so he eases up and waits for them to rejoin. That was interesting.

After all those pan-flat kilometres, the road is now entering some lumpy terrain. The gap is three minutes.

The gap was clearly coming down too quickly and the teams of the sprinters have eased off considerably. The last they want is a counter attack and another, stronger, break forming off the front - especially seeing that we still have over two hours of racing left. 3:45 is the latest lead.

Maglia rosa Vincenzo Nibali is enjoying a laugh with some of the Lampre boys, plus Dario Cataldo of Sky. They're probably just happy to be applying sun cream again and not covering up with rain jackets. The pace has slowed a bit as the peloton regroups. The break is now 3:20 up the road.

The lead for the escapees is down to 2:45 as the peloton splits in two once again. The pace is so high - but at least the sun is back out here in north Italy. It's quite a novelty to see blue sky and dry roads.

CRASH: Jack Bobridge (Blanco) and Johan Le Bon (FDJ) tangle at the back of the pack and the Australian hits the deck, leaving his bike attached to the back of the Frenchman's steed. Le Bon manages to stay on his feet but Bobridge is holding his wrist and looks to be in a bit of pain.

Brilliant stuff by Omega Pharma-Quick Step who clearly want to see their man to a 101th win before he probably calls it a day. Although, with the red jersey on his shoulders, Mark Cavendish may choose to grit his teeth through the mountains in the hope of a win in Breschia. The lead of the break is down to four minutes now.

The echelon that formed in the peloton has been neutralised and now the pack rides as one, just 5:40 down on the break. It looks like they will reel the leaders back in - perhaps on that Cat.3 climb 40km from the finish.

Having held a maximum advantage of 13 minutes over the peloton, the break has seen their lead whittled down to 6:30. The pace is so high in the peloton that it has split in two, with a second group riding 20 seconds down.

The riders have passed through the feeding zone and the peloton clearly mean business with some strong pulling on the front of the pack. The advantage of the seven escapees is coming down pretty fast.

CRASH: Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) crashes in the peloton. Michele Scarponi's mountain lieutenant is currently 7th on GC, 3:35 down on Vincenzo Nibali. He's back on his bike and with the pack without too much ado.

It will be interesting to see how today's stage pans out. OPQS, GreenEdge and Cannondale will want to bring it together for a bunch sprint - especially seeing this will be the last chance before many of the remaining fast men retire from the race. Lars Bak has the power and experience to win it from the break, but he'll need to solo off the front because Hondo and Andriato are the dangermen if it comes to a sprint. Perhaps Bak will combine with his fellow Scandinavian Ludvigsson on the climbs...

The rain has stopped, which is a bonus for the riders on this, the longest stage of the 96th edition of La Corsa Rosa. The Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Orica-GreenEdge teams of Mark Cavendish and Matt Goss have come to the front of the peloton to lead the chase. Cavendish is seeking his fourth win today and Goss his first. The Australian has been rather disappointing so far. The advantage of the break is now just the 10 minutes - so the pack has its work cut out.

Of the escapees, both Ludvigsson and Ermeti have already been involved in breakaways during this year's Giro. Androni have been particularly active - as have Vini Fantini - but still no wins for both Pro Continental outfits from Italy. Bardiani Valvole, on the other hand, have that victory through Enrico Battaglin. The fourth wildcard team, Colombia, have attacked a lot but to little end. They have no rider in the break but will look to make an impression in the high mountains.

The only Brazilian in the race, Rafael Andriato is a 25-year-old sprinter who has quite a kick - which should serve him well if this comes down to a group finish for these escapees. The Vini Fantini rider is riding his debut Giro and is still in search of his first European win as a professional.

The second Italian in this break, 32-year-old Giairo Ermeti is a track specialist riding his fourth Giro. The Androni rider is still looking for that elusive major win as a professional - although he has a cluster of minor wins from back in 2004.

That said, Tobias Ludvigsson was just 10 years old! The Swede is also riding his debut Giro d'Italia. The 22 year old is a good climber and a good time triallist, which will serve him well on today's parcours. The question is - how good is his sprint? The gap is down to 12:25 for the seven leaders.

Italian youngster Nicola Boem, 23, is riding his debut Giro d'Italia in his first year as a full professional at Bardiani Valvole. He was just 11 years old when Hondo and Lastras last won stages on the Giro.