Welcome to live coverage of stage nine of the Giro d'Italia - a mountainous 173km ride through the Apennines from Sansepolcro to Florence.

The peloton are led over the summit by a melange of Astana, Blanco and Sky riders 4:52 down on the two leaders, Pirazzi and Chalapud. It remains to be seen if the duo will sit up and wait for the other escapees or press on themselves.

Jarlinson Pantano attacks from the chasing group to take third over the summit ahead of Gio Visconti. The Colombia man was doing his team-mate Chalapud a favour there to deny the Italian some KOM points. Pirazzi took 9pts, Chalapud 5pts, Pantano 3pts and Visconti 2pts. The live standings now: Pirazzi 21pts, Visconti 16pts, Chalapud 15pts.

Pirazzi and Chalapud keep on attacking each other - and after many attempts to drop his rival, Pirazzi launches the sprint for the KOM points, cuts the final corner and angers Chalapud somewhat, who has to alter his line. He pats Pirazzi on the back side and then the pair exchange a few words after the sprint. The Colombian is not happy - but the Italian clearly didn't intend to box him in then.

Robinson Chalapud attacks from the break. The Colombian is after the mountain points. Unsprurpsingly, Stefano Pirazzi counters to join the Colombia rider. They're both after the mountain points and have opened up a little gap. Visconti, the blue jersey, cannot respond to this.

Wiggins on his rivals: "I doubt Nibali will sit back and try and defend a 30-second lead. He will still ride an aggressive race. Cadel is the best I've seen him since he won the Tour. He's certainly a danger man. I was a bit surprised by Ryder because he's been very aggressive. There's certainly a very long way to go and it's going to be very exciting for the fans."

The 12 leaders now have 4:05 over the peloton as they tackle the gentle hairpin bends of this climb. The road is wide and smooth. Back in the pack, Vincenzo Nibali is only recognisable by his pink short sleaves of his jersey: the race leader is wearing a baby blue Astana gilet.

Bradley Wiggins spoke to Eurosport this morning following his time trial yesterday: "My initial reaction was disappointment because I didn't win the stage. But when we broke down all the numbers we saw that it was a good performance. Let's be honest, I descended like a bit of a girl after Friday's crash. Not to disrespect girls - I have one at home." Nice to see Sir Brad still has his sense of humour - and is in good spirits ahead of the mountains.

The riders are onto the Cat.2 Passo della Consuma. It looks long and big, but the average gradient is only 4% and so this should merely be a leg-stretcher ahead of the race's first Cat.1 peak later in the stage. The gap is 2:48 for the 12 leaders.

The Giro has visited Florence on 30 occasions in its 96-year history. The last time the race passed through the Tuscan capital, Mark Cavendish took the win in 2009. It's safe to say that history won't be repeating itself, what with all those hills on the horizon ahead of the finish.

The gap is up to 3:20 as the leaders approach the first categorised climb of the day. The 12 escapees are: Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole), Alessandro Proni (Vini Fantini), Evgeni Petrov (Saxo-Tinkoff), Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos Shimano), Michal Golas (OPQS), Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Ricardo Mestre (Euskaltel), Robinson Chalapud and Jarlison Pantano (both Colombia), Juan Manuel Garate (Blanco) and Fabio Fellini (Androni).

Reports coming in from the finish that it is raining cats and dogs in Florence. To think that this year's Giro started under such delightfully clement weather in Naples little over a week ago.

The 12 escapees are not having it entirely their own way: despite their best efforts, the advantage is still under the three-minute mark as Astana keep tabs on things back in the peloton.

Maxim Belkov (Katusha) takes maximum points at the intermediate sprint at Bibbienda ahead of Fabio Felline (Androni), Gio Visconti (Movistar) and Robinson Chalapud (Colombia). It has no effect on the red points jersey standings, which Mark Cavendish (OPQS) leads with 58 points to Elia Viviani of Cannondale's 52 points.

The average speed for the first hour of racing today was 43.6 km/h.

Astana, the team of race leader Vincenzo Nibali, have come to the front. With their baby blue and yellow outfits and Nibali's pink get-up, it's a sight for sore eyes. The gap is 2:30 for the break.

The gap is up to 2:15 for the break. Spanish veteran climber Juan Manuel Garate of Blanco is the best-placed rider on GC in this break - 5:42 down on pink jersey Vincenzo Nibali.

It's certainly game on for the KOM standings: Visconti (14pts), Pirazzi (12pts) and Chalapud (9pts) are all in this break.

Another ten riders have joined Pirazzi and Chalapud on the front of the race: Proni (Vini Fantini), Petrov (Saxo-Tinkoff), Ludvigsson (Argos Shimano), Golas (OPQS), Visconti (Movistar), Belkov (Katusha), Mestre (Euskaltel), Pantano (Colombia), Garate (Blanco) and Fellini (Androni).

Those escapees stood no chance as Vini Fantini led a big-ring chase. Two riders have counter-attacked - Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani) and Robinson Chalapud (Colombia). Both men have ambitions in the blue jersey mountains competition but they are being granted very little leeway. Very fast start to the stage.

Ermeti didn't last long out in front but now there are seven riders out ahead with a 20 second gap over the peloton: Marcato (Vacansoleil), Keukeleire (GreenEdge), Capecchi (Movistar), Brambilla (OPQS), Quintero (Colombia), Rosa (Androni) and Bongiorno (Bardiani). As Vini Fantini missed the split, they're leading the chase.

There's an early breakaway attempt by Giairo Ermeti of Androni Giocattoli.