Ciao ragazzi! Welcome to live coverage of stage 1 - sorry, stage 12 - of the Giro d'Italia. After 11 days of nothing much except a few messy sprints and a couple of TT masterclasses from Primoz Roglic, we're finally into the mountains as the race goes over 1,000m for the first time with the belated first Cat.1 climb of the 102nd edition.

Another attack from Brambilla sees Polanc dropped from this group.

The leaders are 1km from the summit now and the same six riders are there. Brambilla puts in an attack – he wants to keep the maglia azzura within the Trek team.

Conti, the pink jersey, is one of the many riders to drop back. With that move by Lopez and Hirt reeled in, Mikel Landa dances clear. The Spaniard also lost loads of time in the first 10 days and needs a performance to get back into contention.

ATTACK: Superman Lopez dances clear of the pack and joins forces with Astana team-mate Hirt. Now that was predictable... There's no initial reaction from the pack - probably because the Colombian lost so much time in that last TT. But soon there's a response from the likes of Majka, Nibali, Carapaz, Roglic and Yates... and pretty much all the domestiques are gone!

Remember, the prize for going over the top in pole position is the maglia azzurra - extra motivation for the six leaders. Who will it be: Polanc, Cataldo, Capecchi, Brambilla, Caruso or Dunbar? Of course, if it's the Slovenian then he could take both the blue and pink...

The first attack on the climb from the peloton comes from Jan Hirt of Astana - but he doesn't get much headway from the Jumbo and Bora-led main pack.

The peloton is now onto the climb and the white jersey Nans Peters is already pedalling squares: he will not be topping the youth standings in an hour or so.

Now Brambilla steps on the pedals. Capecchi follows but Dunbar, Cataldo, Caruso and Polanc don't respond while Montaguti is dropped and joins Benedetti behind.

Dunbar has been joined by Capecchi but they will soon be joined by the others: Montaguti, Cataldo, Caruso, Brambilla and Polanc. Another few seconds back Benedetti is doing his best to join this select group.

Bora, Jumbo, Movistar and Mitchelton are all near the front of the main pack, as is the maglia rosa of Valerio Conti. Will he hold on to the pink jersey today? It's unlikely. Meanwhile, there's an attack from Eddie Dunbar! The Irishman rides clear of the leaders and has Capecchi in pursuit.

Gavazzi was with the leaders but he's been dropped. Benedetti is doing his best to join the eight riders up front. Back with the peloton and Movistar have finally come to the fore.

Dunbar and Capecchi are with this leading group, as is Senni. Brambilla comes to the front now - he was my tip for the stage before the start.

Now Damiano Caruso, his jersey unzipped, takes up the chase. They're about to reel in the two chancers. Yes, they're done. Caruso has Polanc with him as well as Montaguti, Cataldo and Brambilla. The break has blown apart into various sub-groups.

The first two kilometres of this climb are a fairly gentle 6.2% before a mid section which averages over 10%. Thomas De Gendt has come to the front to set the tempo for the chasing escapees.

Bennett and Haller hit the start of the Cat.1 Montoso (8.8km at 9.6%) with a lead of 30 seconds over the rest of the break and 12'40" over the peloton.

The key climb is coming right up...

It's Jumbo-Visma who are leading the chase back in the peloton with a little help from Bahrain Merida. They're a whole 9.2km behind the leaders as things stand!

Just 8km to go until the first major climb of the race. The two leaders have 35 seconds with the pack closing the deficit to 12'50".

Not only is he wearing shorts matching his maglia ciclamino, Arnaud Demare has a purple bike too. If that's not an incentive to get all the way to Verona then what is...?

Our leading duo have 25 seconds on the other escapees and 13'16" on the peloton.