Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia as the race returns to the mountains with this 131km ride from Fausto Coppi's birthtown of Castellania to one of the largest religious shrines in the Alps, Oropa.

Three Bora-Hansgrohe riders up the tempo on the front and one of them riders clear - but yet again it comes to nothing. The team thought they had a second stage win of the race - and a first for Sam Bennett - yesterday, but the Irishman was passed by Gaviria at the 11th hour in Tortona.

CORRECTION: While Andre Greipel has pulled out, Caleb Ewan has not. In fact, the only other sprinter to pull out overnight is Jakub Mareczko of Wilier-Selle Italia - the Italian who finished runner-up to Gaviria on two occasions. So we're down to 183 riders in the peloton.

Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) is the latest to have a pop - after remonstrating with Teklehaimanot and Gaviria.

Bizarre scenes as Daniel Teklehaimanot of Dimension Data opens up a small gap and is followed by yesterday's winner, Fernando Gaviria. The Colombian, who is in the maglia ciclamino, is remonstrating with the Eritrean. Not sure why. It can't be the points classification: Gaviria has 315pts, with Teklehaimanot in seventh place on 86pts.

Albanese has been reeled in ahead of the race passing back through Tortona, where yesterday's stage finished. Lotto Soudal have been rather active on the front - following Greipel's withdrawal yesterday, they need new fish to fry.

Vincenzo Albanese, the Italian Bardiani-CSF rider who was part of yesterday's break, has ridden clear solo. He has numerous riders trying to bridge over.

They're off! And there's an attack from the outset from Simone Fonzi of Wilier-Selle Italia. It comes to nothing, but if followed by a flurry of other digs off the front.

The riders are currently in the neutral zone ahead of today's official start. The peloton is smaller than it was last night following the withdrawal of numerous sprinters, including Andre Griepel and Caleb Ewan. We'll bring you an update of all those who have packed their bags once it's been confirmed.

Another rider due a big ride today is the defending champion, Vincenzo Nibali. The Bahrain Merida rider is only 2:40 down on Tom Dumoulin - so that's just 17 seconds behind Quintana - and so he's in a decent position, to be fair, and always gets stronger in the third week. Here he is waving to the Italian tifosi this morning at Castellania.

Haven't heard of Oropa before? Well, here's some splendid drone footage of the largest religious sanctuaries in the Alps.

It's a sunny day in Piedmont with the temperature in the early 20s. No rain on the cards, and there's only a light breeze - so it's pretty perfect conditions for a bike race.

It's a big day for this man, Nairo Quintana. Having won already at Blockhaus, the Colombian needs to make some in-roads if he wants to keep the pressure up on Tom Dumoulin. He trails the Dutchman by 2:23 but with the final 30km time trial into Milan on the horizon, the Movistar climber will need a five-minute swing to be assured of a second triumph in the Giro d'Italia.

Incidentally, I rode through Piedmont a few years ago and we passed through Tortona, Novi Ligure and Castellania - where I spotted this bit of graffiti on an old brick barn...

With yesterday's stage having finished in Tortona - where Fausto Coppi lived most of his adult life before dying of malaria, aged 40 - today's stage starts just around the corner in the town of Castellania, the birth place of the Campionissimo. Coppi, of course, won the Giro on five occasions, plus the Tour de France twice - a tally which would no doubt have been more impressive were it not for the not inconsiderable inconvenience of the Second World War, during a period of which Coppi was interred at a prisoner of war camp in North Africa - along with the father of Claudio Chiappucci, funnily enough.

And for those of you who like regular maps and profiles, here they are... we have about 25 minutes until showtime.

Here's what the riders have in store today, with that steep finish followed by a flat run through Piedmont into the foothills of the Alps.

Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) enjoyed another uneventful day in the saddle to retain the maglia rosa ahead of a series of key stages in the mountains. Dumoulin leads Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) by 2:23 in the general classification and compatriot Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) by 2:38. But expect some changes today in the top ten as the race returns to the mountains with many riders needing a big performance to reinvigorate their Giro chances.

Yesterday, Colombian sensation Fernando Gaviria showed superb bike-handling and an explosive late kick to come from nowhere to win stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia – his fourth triumph in a remarkable Grand Tour debut. Although the 22-year-old Quick-Step Floors sprinter found himself boxed-in on the home straight, Gaviria fought back, swerved between his lead-out man Max Richeze and the barriers in the final fifty metres, and then powered past Ireland’s Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) to win a claustrophobic finish to the pan-flat 167km stage from Reggio Emilia to Tortona.