Ciao regazzi! Welcome to live coverage of stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia - an undulating 235km ride from Orbetello to Frascati which features one categorised climb, numerous bumps and hills, and a punchy uphill sprint finish ideal for a rider like Peter Sagan (who is unfortunately across the Atlantic on Tour of California duty).

About 15km until the next TV sprint and the host broadcaster graphics has just informed viewers that Damiano Cima's favourite film is Fast & Furious and his favourite food is tiramisu. The trio's lead is down to 5'30".

Deceuninck-QuickStep now have Serry on the front. He's been pulling with individual riders from Bora and UAE to bring the gap down to 6'15" so that means Frapporti is out of the virtual pink jersey hot seat. Behind, the entire Jumbo-Visma team are huddled around the man who looks like he'll keep the pink for another day, Primoz Roglic.

Frapporti is clinching his left thigh - he looks to be suffering from cramps. Don't blame him - it's been a long day in the saddle. Back with the pack, Pieter Serry of QuickStep has helped join the chase, reducing the gap to 6'45". Frapporti's time in the virtual pink jersey is almost over...

Enrico Battaglin (Katusha-Alpecin) crashed yesterday but is still confident he can be in the mix today in a finish which suits his strengths.

Right on cue, UAE Team Emirates, Bora-Hansgrohe and Lotto Soudal have put men on the front of the pack to help chase for their sprinters Gaviria, Ackermann and Ewan. Movistar are also riding en bloc as a team just behind a handful of Jumbo-Visma riders so we can expect the gap to come down pretty fast now.

Puncture for Marco Frapporti, who needs a wheel change. The Androni-Giacattoli rider stands to gain the most today if this break goes all the way with the same gap: he could be in the maglia rosa tonight. He was 6'19" down on Roglic this morning so it's not infeasible...

Since I've been gone, the peloton has taken its foot off the gas and the advantage of the leading trio has stretched out to pushing nine minutes!

Sorry for that break in communications: I was in the TV studio interviewing Nicolas Roche, who is one of the Eurosport pundits this week.

It's Maestri who takes the sprint ahead of Cima with the elder statesman Frapporti happy to let the others stretch their legs while he takes it easy behind. The gap is 6'20".

We're about five clicks from the intermediate sprint at Vetralla and all three of these escapees - Marco Frapporti, Mirco Maestri and Damiano Cima - will be motivated to take the spoils. Their advantage is down to 5'45" which will be enough, surely, for them to do battle for both intermediate sprints before the peloton swallow them up.

A lot has been said about Caleb Ewan's chances today - primarily off the back of his win on the Hatta Dam in the UAE Tour. But that was just a 200m uphill effort whereas today's finale includes a 2km ramp to the line. It's only a 7% maximum gradient and an average of 4.4% but it should be enough to rule out some of the pure sprinters. Many are going for a rider like Diego Ulissi, who thrives on these kinds of finishes, and it remains to be seen if any of the GC riders try to catch out their rivals.

The roads continue to roll, the wind continues to blow, the sun continues to shine (after that short shower), the break continues to ride with a seven-minute gap, and Groupama and Lotto Soudal continue to control the chase.

And now, for no apparent reason, here's a picture of Fausto Coppi.

Talking of food... the press buffet looks pretty good today - what's left of it.

The calm before the storm... talking of which, the rain has stopped and the sun is doing its best to peek back through the clouds. It's one of them days... De Gendt continues leading the peloton with Scotson in his wheel. The gap is 7'15" and I'm off to sort out my lunch. Back in a jiffy.