Welcome to live coverage of stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia - a first day in the proper mountains. The 167km stage features two Cat.1 ascents and finishes atop the Altopiano del Montasio. With a rest day behind them, it's time for the big GC favourites to come out and play - or be found out.

Those five points for the intermediate sprint put Viviani to within one point of Mark Cavendish in the red jersey competition. Cav trails Cadel Evans by just three points in the standings. The Italian will now aim to get over the summit of this climb in contention so that he can get more points in the next sprint ahead of the final climb. It's a big ask.

The break has entered Paulero and it's Pim Ligthart of Vacansoleil-DCM who leads out the sprint for the intermediate sprint with gusto. Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Daniele Bennati (Saxo-Tinkoff) lead the chase and in the end, as expected, Viviani takes the points ahead of Ligthart and Bennati.

Cadel Evans, a revelation during the first phase of the race, is now in Nibali's wheel. The Australian is showing the kind of form that saw him ride to Tour de France glory in 2011. But the serious stuff has yet to start and today's finish will be a real test for the veteran. Astana still drive the pace in the peloton, which trails this 13-man break by six minutes.

Astana have their whole quota of nine riders on the front of the peloton, with Sky matching their rivals with seven riders. Tucked behind there's Michele Scarponi, hugging Nibali's wheel and isolated from any Lampre team-mates, and a cluster of Blanco riders. With the breaksway, it's Ukranian veteran Yaroslav Popovych driving the pace.

Astana, Sky and RadioShack are all on the front of the peloton. The road is certainly heading upwards now, but the first Cat.1 climb of the day will not start properly until the riders pass through the first intermediate sprint at Paularo in about 12km.

It's the feed zone for the peloton now. That big of news about Sacha Modolo joining the leaders a bit earlier was incorrect: the Italian sprinter is not with these 13 escapees.

Fabio Taborre (Vini Fantini) has retired from the race. The Italian youngster was the last man to be caught from the break in stage three but was suffering from a fever last night and it clearly didn't get any better today.

The gap is up to seven minutes now for the escapees - still no threat on the pink jersey Vincenzo Nibali, whose nearest opponent in this break is Machado, 15:26 down on GC.

Katusha have had a great Giro so far after being allowed back into the race following an appeal lodged with the Court of Arbritation for Sport. Two stage wins for Luca Paolini and Maxim Belkov plus a four-day stint for an Italian, Paolini, in pink will have made race director Michele Acquarone very pleased. The Russian outfit have another rider in today's break - the 31-year-old Pavel Brutt, who is already a stage winner on the Giro from back in 2008.

Tiago Machado is one of the dangermen in this break. The Portuguese 27-year-old is a consistent performer who usually places in the top ten for every short stage race he enters. His Grand Tour record is less impressive, but he finished 19th in the 2011 Giro and will look to climb up the overall standings with a solid ride today. A decent climber, the RadioShack man also has the experience of Yaroslav Popovych to rely on today. Together, they should make a fine partnership.

The gap is up to 5:23 for the escapees as some light drizzle comes down over the peloton. Bradley Wiggins, troubled by the wet conditions in the opening week, will hope the rain holds off for that large descent ahead of today's final climb.

A very quick average speed for the first hour of racing today: 49.5km/h. Considering the climbs that are on the horizon, there are going to be some very tired legs arriving at the foot of the Passo Cason di Lanza in just over an hour's time. The break now features 14 riders: Sacha Modolo (Bardiani Valvole) had been riding in pursuit ever since the break formed - and the Italian sprinter has now made contact. The peloton is five minutes behind.

We have two big Cat.1 climbs on the agenda today: Passo Cason di Lanza (12.3km long, 8,5% average, 16% max) and the first altitude summit finish of the race, the Altopiano del Montasio (10.9km, 7.9% average, 20% max). The first climb snakes up a very narrow and winding road through trees. There's a technical 2.5km descent half way through which will not be much of a break for the riders because of the difficulties it poses. Meanwhile, the final climb was until recently still covered in snow.

The escapees pass through the town of Folgaria with a lead of 4:10 over the peloton, which is being led by the Astana team of pink jersey Vincenzo Nibali.

Remember, you can join in all the debate on Twitter, too, throughout the stage with me: @saddleblaze. At the moment we're discussing Wiggo's comment that he is "descending like a girl" and comparing it to Peter Sagan's bottom pinch from the classics. My thoughts: Wiggo can be forgiven for using language that is essentially a common idiomatic espression, whereas Sagan's actions were merely an expression of crassness.

The escapees have three minutes on the pack now. It's an interesting group in which many different motivations are coming into play. Viviani surely has his eyes on the intermediate sprints - he's just 9pts down on Evans in the red jersey standings. Machado is the best-placed rider on GC, 15:26 down on Nibali, so the Portuguese will want to improve his standing and open RadioShack's account. Millar and Dekker are presumably a platform for Hesjedal later on. This is Ligthart's third break so far.

13-man break: Daniele Bennati (Saxo-Tinkoff), Kenny De Haes (Lotto), Elia Viviani (Cannondale), Tiago Machado and Yaroslav Popovych (both RadioShack), David Millar and Thomas Dekker (both Garmin), Maarten Tjallingi (Blanco), Jackson Rodriguez (Androni), Serge Pauwels (OPQS), Oscar Gatto (Vini Fantini), Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil) and Pavel Brutt (Katusha).

Around a dozen riders have opened up a gap off the front of the peloton. They have about 30 seconds on the pack at the moment. Names coming up.

Carlos Quintano of Colombia has retired from the race. He's not to be confused with Movistar's Nairo Quintana, another Colombian, who is not riding the Giro but should be fairly active in both the Tour and Vuelta later in the year.

Expect to see some action from Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole) and Robinsin Chalapud (Colombia) today. The pair duelled their way through Sunday's stage before being caught out by Maxim Belkov and the KOM points available over the two climbs today will no doubt stir their rivalry. The Italian leads the blue jersey standings by 38 points to the Colombian's 23.

That breakaway attempt is easily thwarted by the peloton. The four escapees only ever had about 10 seconds to play with. But telling that Androni put two men out on the road - they're clearly motivated for today's stage. Their main man, the Italian champion Franco Pellizotti, comes from the town of Paularo at the foot of today's first climb, the Passo Cason di Lanza.