Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage nine of the Giro d'Italia - a 215km undulating ride from Benevento to San Giorgio del Sannio that features a series of peaks and three categorised climbs. A stern test for the riders ahead of Monday's much needed first rest day...

Thanks for joining us today - and be sure to return on Tuesday after the race's first rest day tomorrow.

Yes, one slender second gained for Fabio Aru after that kick at the end. A small victory, perhaps, but every second counts. The Italian is all smiles at the finish line after the victory for his good friend Tiralongo. Geshcke, the new blue jersey, took third place from the group.

Aru jumps out of the saddle and opens up a small gap on the final sprint - and he may have taken a second back off Contador and Porte there. To be confirmed...

Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) takes second place at 21 seconds, with the rest of the break coming over a few seconds later.

Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) competely milks it - and why not? - as he rolls down the finishing straight and takes a memorable victory.

Tiralongo riding to a third Giro win - the last one took a big favour by former team-mate Contador; this one he will do by himself.

Contador and Aru are sharing a few words - a bit of competitive sledging no doubt. Tiralongo knows he's won it - and puts his thumb up to the TV camera...

Kruijswijk catches fellow Dutchman Slagter, who in turn is caught by the other chasers. Tiralongo looks to have this in the bag...

Landa is burying himself for Aru. The Spaniard has been very impressive in this Giro - and he's riding into fourth place tonight. They trail Tiralongo by just 1:10 now and have taken more than a minute on the Uran group.

Tiralongo rides Slagter off his wheel as the road kicks up again. The Dutchman looks to be cooked - and Cannondale-Garmin will have to shift focus to Hesjedal in the chasing group...

There are some discussions between the two leaders. They have about 35 seconds on the chasing group and 1:25 on the Contador quartet. Uran rides with the rest of the peloton at around 2 minutes.

Tiralongo has caught Slagter on the descent. There's one more rise before the finish. They will have to work together if they want to contest the win.

The Aru-Contador-Porte-Landa quartet crest the summit at 1:20 seconds, with the remnants of the main pack coming through 25 seconds later.

Over the top goes Slagter - and he only has about five seconds on Tiralongo, with a trio of Hesjedal, Herrada and Kruijswijk passing at 27 seconds.

That attacked decimated the field - we only have Aru, Landa, Contador and Porte left. Uran did not have the firepower to stay with his rivals. Up in front, Slagter is approaching the summit on the steep 13% segment. This climb is both longer and steeper than it appears in the roadbook and the race stage profiles, that's for sure.

ATTACK: Aru dances clear, taking Landa, Contador and Porte with him. Once again, Aru has another team-mate with him - and remember, they have Tiralongo further ahead. Contador has no one, while Porte has left team-mate Leopold Konig behind.

Roman Kreuziger is setting a fast pace in the main pack - but he's the only Tinkoff-Saxo team-mate Contador has. The gap to Slagter has tumbled down to just two minutes, with the chasing group riding at one minute. Anyone could win today now...

Tiralongo has pulled open a small gap on the other chasers. The Italian veteran is grimacing in pain. His team-mate Fabio Aru still has three Astana riders with him on the front of the pack. Contador and Porte look comfortable, too.

Slagter is on that really steep part of the climb to Montemilleto. Back with the peloton, Katusha move further forward, but it's still Tinkoff-Saxo - through Rogers and Contador - who set the tempo. Slagter has 1:50 over the chasing group but only 3:40 over the peloton.

Tiralongo and Elissonde have been caught by the other chasers. They're onto the downhill drag ahead of the final wall towards the finish.