Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia - an undulading ride that concludes with a summit finish at Campitello Matese. After a largely uneventful stage to Fiuggi yesterday, this one should revive the battle for GC and test race leader Alberto Contador, still raw and untested after dislocating his shoulder two days ago...

Giro d'Italia

Stage 8 | Mountain | Men | 16.05.2015

Completed

FiuggiCampitello Matese

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ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 16/05/2015 at 15:05 GMT

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Highlights

0km

The Big Four cross the line in the same group, 35 seconds down on the winner. Aru is fourth, followed by Contador, Porte and Uran. No change at the top then - in fact, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) even doubles his lead to four seconds after picking up those bonus seconds in the first intermediate sprint.

0km

Landa takes second place for Astana ahead of Reichenbach of IAM Cycling.

0km

Victory for Benat Intxausti of Movistar, who claps and then waves at the crowd before crossing the line with his arms raised.

1km

Cunego attacks from the group of main favourites - too little, too late...

2km

Intxausti looks strong and will probably win this. Back with the favourites, it's a game of stalemate.

3km

Landa has now caught both Vandewalle and Kruijswijk - just Intxausti to go now. 40 seconds separate the Spaniards, with the pack 20 seconds further back.

3.5km

Porte also has Nieve as well as Konig, so Contador and Uran are very isolated as a main pack of a dozen riders forms. On the fornt of the race, Intxausti has attacked. The Spaniard from Movistar now leads - but he only has 45 seconds to play with.

4km

Kruijswijk has been caught by Reichenbach and Intxausti - but they only have one minute over the main pack.

4.5km

It's not Cataldo, but Landa - and now the Spaniard breaks clear in a slight lull. A good move for Astana, who will have a rider up the road now for Aru. And Cataldo is back with the Italian now, as is Leopold Konig for Porte.

4.5km

Tanel Kangert is setting a fierce pace for Aru, with Cataldo and Landa also there. And now Aru goes! Cataldo stays with him, as does Contador, Porte and Uran...

5km

Vandewalle is actually still second on the road, just 25 seconds down on Kruijswijk. But the duo of Intxausti and Reichenbach are about to catch the Belgian.

5.5km

Mick Rogers has gone, so Contador only has Kreuziger. Further up, Intxausti is really struggling to keep up with Reichenbach.

6km

Paolo Tiralongo grinds to a halt after a solid shift for Astana, leaving Aru - in the white jersey - with three team-mates. The pink jersey of Contador rides in fifth position ahead of team-mates Rogers and Kreuziger and Sky's Richie Porte. The gap is down to 2:40.

7km

Uran is there for Etixx and Chaves for GreenEdge. Betancur has been caught by Reichenbach and Intxausti. The Colombian is really pedalling squares now. Kruijswijk has 1:05 over the chasing duo (who have now passed Vandewalle too) and three minutes over the main pack.

8km

Five Astana team-mates for Aru, whereas Contador only has Rogers and Kreuziger after Basso dropped back for Tinkoff-Saxo. Porte has three Sky team-mates for now. Further up the road, Vandewalle has dropped Betancur.

8.5km

Franco Pellizotti has been caught by the pack now. He should never have dropped back from the leading trio earlier in the stage.

9km

The gap back to the Astana-driven peloton is only 3:20 for Kruijswijk so the win is far from in the pocket. Rigoberto Uran is quite far back in this streamlined pack, but the Colombian looks fairly comfortable.

10km

Fabio Aru is totally deadpan. Remember, he entered this race in poor form and ill - so it's not just Contador who's at a disadvantage. Intxausti and Reichenbach are 1:25 down on the lone leader, whose winter training on Mount Teide in Tenerife is paying off.

11km

Big acceleration from Betancur - but Kruijswijk keeps his cool, reels him in and then passes. Vandewalle looks to be struggling. Further back, it's Intxausti and Reichenbach who now lead the chase following that dig from Zakarin.

11.5km

Kriujswijk, Intxausti, Pellizotti, Niemiec and even Betancur are solid climbers, so it's no guarantee that they won't stay out. And it's Cakarin who tries the first dig from the chasing group, sparking some movement behind.

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