Welcome to LIVE coverage of stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia - a short 134km ride from Longarone to Treviso that should give the sprinters a rare chance to get a slice of the action.

It's been confirmed that the times will be taken from the 3km mark today - so that any splits in the peloton will not be taken into account. That means that only those who are keen to win the stage - the sprinters and their lead-out trains - will need to put their heads on the line. The others can just coast through Treviso and soak (!) up the atmosphere.

Marco Marcato takes off his leg warmers. There's so much water they were probably weighing him down. It's not actually that cold here in north Italy - nothing like Milan-San Remo earlier in the season.

Mark Cavendish looks understandably miserable in this monsoon. It's his OPQS team-mate Gianluca Brambilla who is setting the pace on the front of the pack. Do you reckon Cavendish will win today to make it three wins? Or can someone like Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) or Elia Viviani (Cannondale) spoil the Manx party?

Vacansoleil-DCM team-mates Marcato and Lammertink will hope to cause an upset and get the win today - and in doing so prove a point to their departing team sponsors. The route has a bunch sprint written all over it - but in such terrible conditions you never know what may happen. The gap is 2:50.

Daniele Bennati of Saxo Bank needs a bike change. The Italian from Saxo Bank is an outsider for today's stage - although this VERY. LONG. bike change won't do him any favours. Really, this is amateur stuff from Bjarne Riis's team - he's been waiting for over a minute and the ride back on will be long and tiring.

Marcato takes the maximum three points over the summit and there's nothing left to play for then the peloton crosses three minutes later. There's no change in the KOM standings, with blue jersey Stefano Pirazzi leading on 46 points, followed by Jackson Rodriguez (26) and Robinson Chalapud (23).

This climb is used in the Italian national championships and although it's a "wall" it's not too daunting. After that crash earlier, both Belkov and Marcato changed their bikes. The Russian forgot to take his computer powermeter off his old steed and so he's riding 'au naturel' now.

The leaders are onto a little climb through some vineyards. It's the first of the two categorised climbs that are on the menu: the Cat.4 Muro di Ca' del Poggio (1.2km at 12.2% with a maximum gradient of 16%). The gap is now 2:45.

A red flag is being waved by a race motorbike. Usually that signals the neutralisation of the stage and so it's all a bit confusing. The race goes on, however. Perhaps it was a warning to the riders ahead of a slippery stretch of road.

Today’s stage finishes with two laps of a circuit around Treviso – or at least, that’s the plan. Eurosport commentator thinks that the race organisers may well scrap the last 7.5km loop because of all this rain. The fear is that with the teams of the sprinters taking risks in placing their men towards the front, there could be a large accident. The problem is that should they scrap the lap, there’d only be the same problem 7.5km earlier, surely?

The lead is 3:20 is for the escapees as the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team of Mark Cavendish come to the front of the peloton. They’ll want to set their man up for a third win. Off the back, Wiggins is riding very gingerly. He hates the rain and he’s riding with a chest infection too. Astana have come to the front to help pace setting – they must know that Wiggo is struggling.

No sign of Marcato in the break at the moment so perhaps the Italian was hurt in his part in the synchronised fall. Belkov has taken off his rain jacket now. Hard man. Regarding Marcato – false alarm: he’s now back.

The pace has slowed considerably in the peloton as news of that incident filters through. They will be aware of the break’s fate. It’s Cannondale who are taking responsibility and setting the pace. But Wiggins is not happy – the 2012 Tour champion has already struggled on wet descents earlier in the race and he’s now hanging out with the Colombia riders at the back of the pack.

CRASH: Four of the five escapees all hit the deck after sliding on the wet road. Belkov was leading the way and came down first and then the others came down like dominoes. Bert De Backer is the only rider not to hit the deck there. But they’re all back up and on their way.

The gap is up to almost three minutes for the five-man break. It’s so dark out there it could almost be night.

Maglia rosa Vincenzo Nibali looks utterly miserable back in the peloton as he chats to a rider from Lampre-Merida. You can tell Nibali is from Astana because of his blue shorts – but there’s no sign of his pink jersey because he’s in the ubiquitous black rain jacket. Some teams have jackets that reflect their team colours – Vini Fantini and Cannondale, for example, who sport their same garishly fluorescent yellow and lime green colours.

Belkov is piling on the pressure on the descent. The Russian 28-year-old did just this in stage 9 a few days ago – which he won after attacking climbers Stefano Pirazzi and Robinson Chalapud on a long downhill. Even this hellish weather isn’t putting the Katusha man off.

De Backer taps Belkov on the arm and the two combine in an attack off the front of the break – something that was clearly prearranged between the two riders. It’s Belkov who takes the maximum points at the first intermediate sprint – which in fact has come at the top of a gradual climb – ahead of De Backer and then the others. But it comes back together as Marcato finally makes the connection.

The continued shoddy weather won't help Bradley Wiggins, who announced yesterday that he has been riding with a chest infection. "I'm not feeling very good at the moment, I've had a pretty rough 24 hours. I've got a chest infection and a bog-standard head cold. Fortunately in these days, these kinds of stages, there's just a bit of fighting and you can get through them and hide a little bit. But I just want to try and fight through it and hope that in a few days' time I'll be all right."

The rain is almost Apocalyptic - and news from the finish in Treviso is that it's even worse. The vast majority of the peloton are wearing black jackets although Lammertink is going for just a sleeveless gilet. Shoe covers are the order of the day too - although not for De Backer, who must have thoroughly sodden and cold feet.

The four riders have 1:30 over the peloton with Marcato about to join them. The Italian is just 20 seconds down and will soon make the connection.