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...

Confirmation that Simon Geschke took maximum points atop the Cat.1 Colle Molella which - along with his haul on the previous Cat.2 climb - puts the German rider from Giant Alpecin into the blue jersey. He has 50 points to Benat Intxausti's 39.

We're now onto the descent off the back of the Colle Molella, which came with a hidden extra peak after the official summit of the Cat.1 climb. It's rolling terrain all the way to the finish, with a Cat.2 climb coming 25km from the finish.

Tinkoff-Saxo lead the pack with four riders - including the pink jersey of Contador. They have managed to reel Cataldo back in after his brief foray up the road - a signal of intent from Astana or a failed coup?

Colbrelli - who is celebrating his 25th birthday today - has been caught by the peloton now after his time in the break. He waves at the camera and soon he may be tailed off like a whole host of riders, including the red jersey Elia Viviani.

Belkov has managed to rejoin the leaders, so we have 10 men in the lead. They have 2:45 on the peloton. And Astana has sent yet another man up the road - Dario Cataldo. That means Astana have Tiralongo in the main break and Cataldo riding between - and the latter is only 30 seconds down on GC so is a clear danger man.

Paulinho appears to have been caught by the peloton on the Colle Molella so he never did catch Colbrelli and Belkov, as was initially reported through race radio. Live TV images are about to start and so things will become a bit clearer very soon.

Apparently an extra nine kilometres were added to this stage in a late adjustment to the route, meaning it's 224km long and not the original 215km. Perhaps a detour to avoid Tony Soprano country near Avellino?

No rider from Androni-Sidermec in this break - for the first time since the start of the race in San Remo. Belkov has been dropped by the leaders too, and he now rides with Paulinho and Colbrelli. A reminder of the nine leaders: Carlos Betancur (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Paolo Tiralongo (Astana), Amael Moinard (BMC), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Ryder Hesjedal and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin), Simon Geschke (Giant Alpecin) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).

Sonny Colbrelli has been dropped by the leading group and so we have just 10 riders out ahead. Paulinho is closing in, but the time gaps are coming down - the peloton is just over four minutes back.

The leaders are nearing the top of the Cat.1 Colle Molella with a five-minute lead over lone chaser Paulinho, who himself has almost a minute on the pack.

Interestingly, Sergio Paulinho has attacked off the front of the peloton. The Portugese vetenan perhaps paving the way for later - it may mean that Tinkoff-Saxo don't have to chase down this break.

The 11 leaders are on the descent ahead of the next climb, the Cat.1 Colle Mollela. They have 5:50 over the peloton.

Confirmation of the points over the top of Monte Terminio: Geschke crossed first to take 15 points ahead of Betancur (8) and Tiralongo (6). Now Kruijswijk is up to 19 points in the battle for the blue jersey after he picked up 4 points for fourth place.

CORRECTION: What I just said about Kruijswick being in the blue jersey was utter balderdash, by the way. The Dutchman did scale the Cat.2 climb in pole position yesterday, but he faded on the final ascent and - of course - maximum points there went to the stage winner, Benat Intxausti. So it's the Movistar rider who is in the blue jersey with a haul of 39 points followed by Mikel Landa (Astana) on 19 points his second-place finish. Kruijswijk is only third, on 15 points.

Remember, Kruijswick is in the blue mountains jersey after scaling yesterday's first Cat.2 peak in pole position. No news yet on whether or not it was the Dutchman who crested the summit of the Termino in first place - but you'd think that would have been his objective. The gap expands to five minutes, putting Moinard in the virtual maglia rosa.

The leading group are approaching the summit of the Cat.2 Monte Termino with a lead of around 4:30 over the pack, which is being controlled by the Tinkoff-Saxo team-mates of the race leader, Contador. After two hours in the saddle the average pace has been a fast 41.6kmh.

The 'lanterne rouge' of the race - Japan's Manabu Ishibashi of Nippo-Vini Fantini - has withdrawn from the race. That means Matteo Pelucchi of IAM Cycling is now the last placed rider. The Italian is 2h15.39 down in 188th place.

Frenchman Amael Moinard (BMC) is the best placed rider in the break, currently 4:45 down on Alberto Contador - putting him almost in the virtual maglia rosa. Interesting to see both Betancur and Kruijswijk in the break, too - both riders were part of the break that animated yesterday's stage, before being reeled in on the final climb.

That brings us up to date. Now we just need to reveal who the eleven breakaway riders are: Carlos Betancur (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Paolo Tiralongo (Astana), Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani-CSF), Amael Moinard (BMC), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Ryder Hesjedal and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin), Simon Geschke (Giant Alpecin), Maxim Belkov (Katusha) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).

French veteran Sylvain Chavanel and former Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal were two of many riders who tried their luck at breaking clear as the peloton split in two once again, with yesterday's winner Benat Intxausti and the red jersey of Elia Viviani among those tailed off. The break then formed on the climb to Grottella with around 155km remining.

It was a frantic opening to today's stage with a sudden climb and zippy descent leading to a split in the peloton with around 50 riders in the leading group. Contador found himself in the second group, but the gaps were minimal as Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) had another pop at breaking clear - much like he did yesterday. After 25km the race was back together.