Ciao ragazzi! Welcome to live coverage of Il Lombardia - coming courtesy of the 2019 Giro d'Italia around five months earlier than scheduled... You'd be forgiven thinking that, given the parcours of today's 232km Stage 15 from Ivrea to Como, which takes in some of the iconic climbs used during the fifth Monument of the season.

Another attack from Simon Yates! This time, no one replies. Movistar decide to put Hector Carretero on the front of the chasing pack to ride tempo instead of burning matches trying to catch the Briton.

Roglic was caught dozing then but he's now leading a group of chasers over to the others. The likes of Lopez, Majka, Formolo, Carthy, Lopez, Sivakov are all there - and many others will also bridge over - but that attack by Yates was a reminder of how things will be between here and the finish.

ATTACK: Yates puts in a dig and Landa replies! Carapaz and Nibali bridge over but Lopez and Roglic have been caught out.

Mitchelton-Scott continue setting the pace on the climb with Movistar tucked in behind. The pack is still around 50-strong and the gap is now six minutes for the two leaders. Diego Ulissi, many people's tip today, is riding on the back and doing his best to hold on.

Our two leaders are onto the second climb, the Cat.2 Colma di Sormano (9.6km at 6.6%). Their gap is 6'35".

No, Bakelants is still ahead - the Belgian has just gone over the summit in third place a handful of seconds ahead of the pack, with Ciccone, I think, taking fourth to consolidate his lead in the maglia azzurra standings.

Mitchelton-Scott back on the front with Hamilton and Nieve with Yates. Ciccone is primed to launch for those KOM points. Bakelants must have been caught because we haven't seen him for a while.

Meanwhile, well down and at the back of the race there's an ill Krists Neilands doing his best the make the cut and stay in the race...

Meanwhile, Movistar have five riders on the front now for Carapaz. The pack is down to about 40 riders and the gap for the two leaders is 7'15".

Kuss has caught back up with the main pack on the flat section and he hands teammate Roglic an energy gel at the back of the peloton. Perhaps the Slovenian is suffering a bit - he's out of position and well back here. Not a good time to drop back for sustenence.

Cattaneo catches up with Cataldo before the summit and then lets his compatriot crest the Madonna del Ghisallo climb in pole position

Attack from Jan Bakelants! The Belgian is one of only four Sunweb riders left in the race and he's gone for a long one. It looks like there may be a reaction from some riders, including Giulio Ciccone and Diego Ulissi...

Puncture for Mattia Cattaneo! One of the leaders needs to stop and change his bike ahead of the final rise to the summit. He should be able to fight back and join Dario Cataldo, who will be torn as to sit up and wait or plough on alone.

The leaders are onto the downhill section of the climb. Sep Kuss has been dropped so Roglic only has Antwan Tolhoek left in support.

Bahrain Merida have taken over now through Pozzovivo and Caruso ahead of Nibali. Agressive riding from the Shark who will be one of the favourites today - especially now with the two leaders coming within 7'30" of the thinning pack.

Now Amador comes to the front to tap tempo out for Movistar, who have the pink jersey Carapaz and Landa in tow. In fact, they have three more riders too - and they have all come to the front now. It looks like Hector Carretero, JJ Rojas and one other.

There's a fan waving a Luxembourg flag on the side of the road - no doubt a Bob Jungels supporter. The QuickStep rider won a very similar stage in the 2017 Giro finishing in Bergamo and will hope to repeat that today after fading well out of contention for a top 10 finish. QuickStep are having a terrible race following Elia Viviani's failure to win any of those sprints before calling it quits earlier in the week.

The climbers are coming to the fore as loads of riders are being shelled out the back. Yates has two Mitcheltons on the front priming him for a possible attack.

The teams of the big race favourites have come to the front: Jumbo Visma, Bahrain Merida and Mitchelton-Scott, most noticably, with Trek-Segafredo also there and, a bit behind, riders from Bora, Ineos and Movistar. The gap is down to 8'10" for the two leaders.

INFO: The Giro first tackled the historic climb of the Ghisallo in 1921. There's a small chapel at the top which was consacrated the Sanctuary of the Cyclists by Pope Pius XII on 13 October 1949. The Sanctuary now houses a well-known museum which holds, amongst many exhibits, the first ever maglia rosa, awarded to Learco Guerra on 10 May 1931.

It's time to climb! The break has hit the Cat.2 climb to Madonna del Ghisallo (8.6km at 5.6%). The reason why the average gradient seems low if because of the flat and downhill segment two-thirds up. It's sandwiched by ramps that hit 14% and 12% so this is no walk in the park.