Ciao ragazzi! Welcome to live coverage of stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia - a massive (and yet not the longest) 238km schlep from Cassino to San Giovanni Rotondo.

Many of the riders are taking off some layers in anticipation of the climb. The trouble is that there may be rainfall after the climb and before the finish according to forecasts. It's a difficult one to gauge. Elsewhere, in the break, the riders are stocking up on energy bars. They may need it.

Some more back country roads again - and the surface is traditionally south Italian, that's to say, potholes and corrugated. The gap is still 5'20" so it looks like the break may stay out today - provided they can find their climbing legs on this approaching climb.

Not too long to go until that Cat.2 climb. A reminder that Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) leads the maglia azzurra standings on 24pts with Francois Bidard (Ag2R-La Mondiale) in second place on 6pts.

Still 5'30" for the 13 leaders so the peloton is not really showing any real appetite to reel this one in just yet. Movistar have two cards to play today in Rojas and Amador as they look to add to Richard Carapaz's victory from two days ago. They're the only team with two representatives in this break.

Remember, the Bradley Wiggins Show will be back on Monday so stay tuned for more of Sir Wiggo's frank insight and witty banter.

Still 5'10" for the 13-man break. A reminder who's here: José Joaquin Rojas and Andrey Amador (Movistar), Nans Peters (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy), Nicola Bagioli (Nippo-Vino Fantini-Faizanè), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates), Fausto Masnada (Androni Giacattoli-Sidermec), Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) and Amaro Antunes (CCC Team).

Should Valerio Conti, the virtual maglia rosa (+1'59)70km, fade between now and the finish there are some other riders in this 13-man break who could have an eye on Roglic's pink jersey: Giovanni Carboni (+2'53"), Nans Peters (+3'07"), Valentin Madouas (+3'20"), Jose Joaquin Rojas (+3'33") and even Andrey Amador (+4'25") are all in with a shout.

The break leave behind the wide main road and are now on a narrower country lane. The peloton is back together after that momentarily split while a Bora rider takes advantage of a front wheel change to answer a call of nature in the general direction of a grassy verge.

The gap is down to 5'20" now for the 13 leaders - and the increase in tempo in the peloton on this exposed plain appears to have caused a split in the pack, with around 30 riders battling to fight back in the wind.

Simon Yates is also sporting a plaster on his left knee - not from today's crash, which he avoided, but from Tuesday's spill that ended Tom Dumoulin's chances. The British rider is 35 seconds down on Roglic in the overall standings after limiting his losses both in the opening time trial and two days ago when that crash split the peloton. Roglic hadn't put a foot wrong in the race until today's crash.

Our leaders are on a zippy descent after completing the fourth and last of this series of uncategorised climbs that have peppered this stage. Their gap is down to 6'10" and a lot will now depend on whether they can maintain their advantage over the next flat 60km before the Cat.2 climb and that spicy finale.

A hundred clicks to go! And the gap is up to 6'30". Amazingly, this is the fourth stage (out of five) that is over 200km long. There are five more between now and the end of the race. Could this be one of the longest Grand Tours in recent memory? Actually, no, I just checked: this year's Giro is a total of 3,518km long while last year's was 3,572km (even though it only included seven stages - and not nine - longer than 200km).

Almost six minutes now for the 13 leaders. If someone from the peloton wants to go for today's stage, they're going to have to get their team to start riding soon.

This break is combining well but their fate depends on whether Roglic's Jumbo-Visma team are prepared to concede the maglia rosa (probably to Conti) or if some of the teams of the sprinters think that their fast men can keep in touch on that Cat.2 climb near the finish. Who do you think will win? Let me know @Saddleblaze on Twitter.

The lead's up to over five minutes now for our 13 leaders. If this was in Rome or Ancient Egypt, where superstition reigned supreme, wouldn't they have to prop up a stuffed cat or something on a bike to up the number to 14?

The break plough through the feed zone with Amador on the front and a gap of 4'45" over the pack. On that cue, I'm going to head off and get my lunch. Back shortly... To keep you entertained, I'll upload some videos.

Other obvious danger men in this break are Valentin Madouas, the young French puncheur, Fausto Masnada, the Italian who won twice on the Tour of the Alps, Valerio Conti, the Italian who could be in the maglia rosa tonight, Ruben Plaza, the Spanish veteran who has won stages in both the Tour and Vuelta before, and Andrey Amador, the Costa Rican who is a tidy all-round package.