Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia! The longest stage of the race is a largely flat 240km ride from Muggio to Pinerolo which has a sting in the tail: a tough double-digit climb to Pramartino before a dangerous drop to the finish. The perfect occasion for Vincenzo Nibali to save his Giro, perhaps?

We pick up the race LIVE after the first 100km of riding with a group of 24 riders rolling along around 10 minutes ahead of the peloton.

The remaining 161 riders rolled out of Muggio this morning at 10:22 BST. One non-starter: Manuel Belletti of Wilier-Southeast.

It was bright and sunny at the start in Muggio ahead of the longest stage of the 2016 Giro d'Italia.

Dutch maglia rosa Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) finished safely in the main pack to retain his three-minute lead over Colombia's Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) in the general classification with four days remaining in the 99th edition of La Corsa Rosa.

Germany's Roger Kluge caused a massive upset with a last-ditch attack to defy the sprinters and win stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia in Cassano d'Adda. One day after IAM Cycling announced they were folding at the end of the season, Kluge gave the Swiss team their first Grand Tour stage win since their inception four years ago in a dramatic off-script conclusion to the 196-kilometre stage from Molveno.