Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, an odd transitional-ish 134km ride from Tirano to Lugano that features just one lower category climb and a largely flat route ahead of the Swiss finale - which could well suit a break or a bunch sprint of sorts.

The gap is 2:40 for the three leaders. Paterski and Villella are still stuck in between.

The peloton is all strung out on this sunny day in the valley sof the Alps. Trek Factory Racing are leading the chase - perhaps they fancy setting up Giacomi Nizzolo for the win and red jersey today. Giant Alpecin are present too, maybe for their man Luka Mezgec, who has been a bit off this year, it has to be said.

Villella and Paterski are not making much headway: they ride just 20 seconds ahead of the pack and still trail the three leaders by 1:50.

The three leaders are onto the descent now with Villella and Paterski in pursuit. No news for now on who bridged the summit in pole position, or where chasse patate Chirico ended up.

Maciej Paterski (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) and Davide Villella (Cannondale-Garmin) are trying to bridge the gap as the leaders approach the summit of this climb.

Bandiera, Keisse and Berlato have 1:20 over lone chaser Chirico, who himself rides 50 seconds ahead of the peloton on this Cat.3 climb.

The leading trio is onto the climb and they have a pursuer in the form of Luca Chirico (Bardiani CSF).

The three leaders are approaching the climb - so far there have been no more attacks, but that will soon no doubt change.

Early attack from Marco Bandiera (Androni-Sidemec), Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep) and Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini). They open up a gap of 30 seconds but can expect to be joined by more riders on the climb - if not before.

We're under way in Tirano for the start of stage 17. The road heads downhill for the first 8km ahead of the only categorised climb of the day, the Cat.3 ascent to Teglio. Then we have a downhill and some rolling-to-flat terrain ahead of a couple of hills before the flat finish in Lugano.

The big talking point yesterday was the perceived unsporting tactics of both Astana and Katusha, who drove the pace when the race leader punctured on the descent from Aprica 20km ahead of the Mortirolo. "I don’t want to say too much but I think there was much more respect for the maglia rosa five or 10 years ago. Now when the leader punctures, they attack; when the leader crashes, they attack,” Tinkoff-Saxo owner Oleg Tinkov told Cyclingnews. "It’s up to the fans to say if there was fair play from the Astana and Katusha team. I don’t understand what they were hoping to do by being 40 seconds ahead at the start of the Mortirolo. Alberto was by far the strongest guy here… I don’t think Astana and Katusha showed any class."

Some riders were penalised yesterday for holding onto cars and motorbikes for too long on the fearsome Mortirolo pass. They included Leopold Konig (Team Sky) and Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Soudal), who both received a nominal 50 Swiss franc fine and a 10-second penalty. The Czech Republic rider Konig stays sixth on GC, but now trails Contador by 9:41.

It's a late start today, what with this stage being so short and relatively straight forward. The remaining 170 riders are readying themselves in Tirano ahead of the official start - and look, the sun is out for the first time in what seems like an eternity in northern Italy.

Alberto Contador cemented his grip on the maglia rosa yesterday with an astonishing performance on the Mortirolo to fight back after a puncture and then distance a shell-shocked Fabio Aru. It's Aru's Astana team-mate Mikel Landa - winner of the stage in Aprica for his second successive scalp in the Alps - who is now second on GC, 4:02 down on his fellow Spaniard from Tinkoff-Saxo. Aru drops to third a further 50 seconds back.