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.

We're finally getting some live images from the race and the gap for Cattaneo and Cataldo is up to 12'12". On the front of the peloton it's a mixture of Movistar, Jumbo-Visma and Mitchelton-Scott riders.

More than 10 minutes now for our two leaders, who are enjoying their day out in the sun. Although we're hearing reports of heavy wind at the finish.

Meanwhile, in the Eurosport studio right now things are about to get serious...

The gap has ballooned to almost nine minutes after 60km or racing.

The leaders have passed the town of Arborio, which I'm told is famous for its rice pudding, which is made from the revered Arborio rice.

It seems like the peloton has finally sat up and given this break its blessing. The gap has stretched out to four minutes.

The riders have covered 44km in the opening hour today so the pace is pretty high out there. The gap for the two leaders is 1'20".

Aussie veteran Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) joined Niv in pursuit of the two leaders but their counter-attack came to nothing.

A bit of headway now for the two Italian leaders: they have 1'15" over the pack with one rider, Guy Niv (Israel Cycling Academy), trying to bridge over.

Just 20 seconds for the duo, who have both been very offensive so far in this year's Giro, getting involved in numerous breaks.

Neither Cataldo nor Cattaneo have ever won a stage on the Giro although they have come close: second and third respectively. For Cattaneo, his third came in stage 18 in 2018 when he finished behind Max Schachmann and Ruben Plaza at Prato Nevoso; for Cataldo, he was second behind Evgeni Petrov in L'Aquila in stage 11 in 2010 and second also behind Enrico Battaglin at Oropa in stage 14 in 2014.

The day's first attacks come from Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giacattoli) and Dario Cataldo (Astana). The Italian duo open up a lead of 15 seconds.

The big news today is confirmation that Tuesday's stage 16 to Ponte di Legano will not use the Passo di Gavia as planned because of the heavy snowfall on the summit. A rejigged route sees the riders tackle two smaller climbs instead ahead of the Mortirolo and then the final rise to the finish.

No attacks within the first 10km today. They've gone over a little bump up to Zimone and will now enjoy 120-odd kilometres of flat roads before the rolling terrain gets going.

It's Mikel Nieve's 35th birthday today. The Spaniard was second behind Zakarin two days ago and is a key mountain lieutenant for Mitchelton-Scott teammate Simon Yates.

Step forward, the Shark of the Strait: the last outing before the second rest day is prime ambush territory and could be the ideal opportunity for Vincenzo Nibali to remind rival Primoz Roglic about some of the trophies he has at home...

Sunday’s Stage 15 is a 232km ride from Ivrea to Como which includes the famous Madonna del Ghisallo and Civiglio climbs that feature in the fifth Monument of the season, Il Lombardia. As I said in my report yesterday - if only there was a strong GC rider within touching distance of the maglia rosa who has a good record in the Race of the Falling Leaves…

They're off! The remaining 149 riders in the race get this stage under way. No non-starters to report this morning - with just Enrico Barbin (Bardiani-CSF) and Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) not completing yesterday's stage.

Here's the profile today - and you can see what I mean by Lombardia-esque, eh?