Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia - a 214km largely pizza-flat schlep from Osimo to the race circuit at Imola. Quite aptly, it's going to be one for the sprinters and a resumption of the maglia ciclamino battle between Elia Viviani and Sam Bennett.

I spoke too soon: the rain is now tumbling down again as the gap is reduced to two minutes.

The rain has eased up, by the way. The gap is still 2'30" for the five leaders.

Meanwhile, it's another 3pts for sixth place in the sprint as Viviani leads the peloton over the line. The Italian moves up to 184pts in the points classification to extend his lead in the maglia ciclamino competition. Can he add another 50pts with a third stage win at Imola in an hour or so?

Another intermediate sprint win for Androni's Frapporti who out-kicks Zhupa and Maestri in Forli. The 33-year-old is unbeatable in these breakaway sprints this year.

There's a game of cat-and-mouse going on in the break as Frapporti slows right down, knowing that Zhupa is sandbagging him ahead of the sprint. As a result the two riders slip 20 metres back from the other escapees and have their work cut out ahead of the sprint...

Hugh Carthy and Joe Dombrowski are the two EF riders setting tempo on the front, with riders from Quick-Step and Bora-Hansgrohe just behind. It's been a day of rest for the GC teams as the sprinters take centre stage with their support. That said, everyone will be on red alert on that final climb of Tremonti. The gap is down to 2'30" with the second intermediate sprint coming right up.

Fighting talk from EF Education First-Drapac powered by (published by? personal best??) Cannodale... Can Modolo now deliver?

Today's finish climb of Tremonti has been compared to the Poggio climb used in Milan-Sanremo - and here's why... The question is - will a sprinter win or can someone do a Vincenzo Nibali?

The gap has grown back above the three-minute mark for our five leaders - four Italians and an Italian-based Albanian.

Rain still coming down hard - and so too is the advantage of the break. They now have two-minutes on the pack and will almost certainly be reeled in ahead of that climb 10km from the finish in Imola.

The gap is 2'40" for the five-man break, who have been out from the 3km mark today. They are: Marco Frapporti (Androni-Giocattoli), Mirco Maestri and Manuel Senni (Bardiani-CSF) and Jacopa Mosca and Eugert Zhupa (Wilier Triestina).

The rain that has threatened to fall for quite a while is now pouring down. Many pre-empted it and got on their capes and jackets beforehand, but most of the peloton have been caught out and are now grappling with their wet weather clothing. It was very wet the last time the race came to Imola three years ago...

EF Education First-Drapac have been setting the tempo on the front of the pack through Mitch Docker and Joe Dombrowski for large parts of this stage. It's currently the moustachioed Australian Docker who drives the pace with the gap down to 2'25".

It's not the same Tiber river that runs through Rome - it's not even the Tiber, but the Marecchia - and nor is the bridge even named after the same Roman emperor. But still, it looks nice from above.

Talking of food, the press buffet at Imola appears to be a DIY affair that leaves journalists with not much change from a 20 euro note. Looks tasty, mind.

The break pass through the feed zone with three minutes to play with. Talking of food, our man Jonathan Harris-Bass has been doing a daily food blog during the Giro - and today's offering is trout...

The Giro came to Imola in 2015 with the rangy Russian Ilnur Zakarin of Katusha taking the win in the rain after a gutsy attack over the final climb - so a bunch sprint is far from guaranteed. That said, it was a very different parcours with five ascents ahead of four laps of the circuit including that climb.

The riders are passing the coastal resort of Cattolica en route to Rimini before heading inland towards the finish.

The break has just crested the summit of a small mound that rises 122 metres to La Siligata. It's quite punchy and the peloton is all strung out as they collectively big-ring it up out of the saddle, trailing the five escapees by 3'10". That's it for climbs until the final 20km of the stage.