Hello and welcome to stage four of the Giro d'Italia - and after three days in the Netherlands, and one in transit, the race has hit Italian shores for the first time. We're in the south of Italy in the region of Calabria.

The break being reeled in would have been music to Maarten Tjallingi's ears - had he not also been among the riders tailed off the back. The veteran Dutchman will not get those two points to move back into the lead of the blue jersey competition today...

The peloton has been blown apart with the likes of Marcel Kittel and Andre Gripel off the back on this Cat.3 climb. Brandle has been caught and the three others will follow suit very soon.

The break has imploded! The gap is down to just 25 seconds and Brandle is the first to be dropped by the escapees on this climb.

We're approaching the next climb, the Cat.3 ascent to San Pietro (5.3km at 6.8%). The gap is back below 3mins.

Berlato must have come off in the crash that marred the finale of Sunday's stage - because he had that chin injury during the rest day according to this tweet...

Giacomo Berlato - the Nippo-Vini Fantini rider who was part of the break on both Saturday and Sunday - has dropped back for water bottles. He had a bandage and plasters strapped around his chin so he must have come off and landed face first at some point today. Either that is it's a mysterious rest day injury...

The break's lead has stretched back up to 3:50 so it's looking good for them for now - certainly for the next climb. Mohoric is stuffing his face with something from a foil wrapper - probably the remnants of his lunch.

Those seven points put Nicola Boem into the provisional lead of the blue mountains jersey classification. Overnight leader Maarten Tjallingi has just 5pts from those two breaks in the Netherlands, so it looks like Boem will be in blue tonight - depending on what happens on the next Cat.3 climb. Rosskopf followed him over the Bonifati to take 4pts - should the American take maximum points over the next climb and Boem come over in third or fourth, then it will be him and not Boem in blue.

Mikel Landa is currently off the back of the peloton with a Sky team-mate - he must have dropped back to the team car or something, because he doesn't appear to be in any discomfort.

BONIFATI SUMMIT: It's Mohoric who puts in the first attack on the climb! The Slovenian is reeled in but then has another dig before Rosskopf pulls clear - only for Boem to counter and then crest the summit in pole position to take the maximum 7pts.

Quite a few riders appear to be struggling off the back of the peloton, including (strangely enough) Ruben Plaza (Orica-GreenEdge) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC). The four leaders have 2:20 to play with and it's Mohoric who sets the tempo for now.

We spoke to Andrey Amador of Costa Rica this morning. The Movistar rider in in third place on GC just 15 seconds down on Marcel Kittel so he could well move into pink with a good finish today - provided he takes six seconds off second-place Tom Dumoulin as well. "I think we're all very happy to see italy. All the teams have worked really hard and today's stage will be really intense, especially the finale. Anyone could win today. Alejandro (Valverde) will have a go, I may have a go. The pink may change hands."

The four leaders are onto the first of two Cat.3 climbs, the Bonifati - it's the largest climb of the race so far (we had just two Cat.4 lumps in the Netherlands) and is 6km long with an average gradient of 6% and packed with hairpins.

The Etixx-QuickStep team of Marcel Kittel have five riders - including the pink jersey himself - on the front, while Fabio Sabatini, Kittel's lead-out man, drops back to the team car to pick up a banana and some bidons. The Astana team of overall race faviourite Vincenzo Nibali are tucked in just behind.

A reminder of the four riders in the break, who have been out since the 15km mark: Nicola Boem (Bardiani CSF), Matej Mohoric (Lampre-Merida), Joey Rosskopf (BMC) and Matthias Brändle (IAM). They have 2:38 over the pack ahead of those two Cat.3 climbs.

Eurosport expert Juan Antonio Flecha has described today's final climb near the finish at Praia a Mare as "explosive and demanding". It peaks out at 18% and is narrow and twisting as it rises to give the race quite splendid views over the Mediterranean. Here's what it looks like from the riding perspective...

The leaders have been through the feedzone with around three minutes over the pack, who have managed to catch the lone chaser, Grosu.

Marcel Kittel spoke to Eurosport this morning: "I'm very happy to ride the first stage in Italy - it's a bit like the Olympic Games, I have the honour of bringing the pink jersey home. I will try and keep hold of it today but the finish is very tough so I cannot make any promises."

Now that the pace is down in the pack the atmosphere has chilled out a little - and it's nice to see Fabian Cancellara smile as he shares a joke (and pine cone) with Matteo Tossato. Spartacus has been struggling with illness but it looks like he's back in rude health now the race has left the Netherlands.

The riders have been over a little coastal lump and are now coasting their way towards the feedzone. Grosu us still stuck in no-man's land - he's a minute behind the four leaders but three minutes ahead of the pack.

It appears that the break has surged clear again so perhaps those reports that it was being reeled in were a little exaggerated. Zhupa is no longer in the equation so perhaps that was an error on the part of race radio. There is, however, one rider in pursuit - Eduard-Michael Grosu of Nippo-Vini Fantini. The Romanian is 1:20 behind the four leaders so some kind of comprimise has been reached: if Nippo can't reel the break back into the peloton then they'll at least chuck a man ahead of the pack to try and reach them solo. Grosu is 1:30 ahead of the pack and so it appears that the chase has been put off for the time being.