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).

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.

It's drizzling now as the gap stabilised around the 7'20" mark.

It hasn't been a walk in the park today, as Frenchman Olivier Le Gac can testify... The Groupama-FDJ rider took a tumble earlier on before the TV cameras started rolling. We hope Manuele Boaro (Astana) managed to bunny-hop over his bike...

It's been a very slow start to this stage with the average speed only just over 33kmph. Thomas De Gendt continues to ride on the front for Lotto Soudal with some help from Miles Scotson of Groupama-FDJ. The gap is 7'27" and it looks like there are a few drops of rain on the TV cameras.

We're hearing that Denmark's Matti Breschel (EF Education First) has withdrawn.

Elia Viviani spoke to the media at the start of the stage to express his feelings about Fernando Gaviria being given yesterday's win following his relegation. "We are friends so at least I am happy he finishes second because I'm more happy that he wins than anyone else," the Italian champion said. "What can I say? I do my sprint and I was the first to say that I feel the contact [with Matteo Moschetti]. I want to say also that it was not voluntary. If they want to follow the rules, it's right to follow the rules. But I'm curious to see if they follow the rules in every other sprint from now. Today is a little bit hard but we're going to try, day by day, no stress, so we'll see."

It's windy but not blustery or exposed enough to see the pack blown apart into echelons. Thoms De Gendt is on the front leading the chase for Lotto Soudal, who will be hoping their man Caleb Ewan will come good on the uphill ramp to the finish today. The Aussie pocket-rocket has a good recent record on similar finishes and this would be the perfect chance to get a first Grand Tour stage win in two years on a day when some of his rivals may struggle with the slope.

Lotto Soudal and Groupama-FDJ have come to the front alongside Astana to help reduce the gap to just over eight minutes for our three escapees. It's pretty blustery out there today and it has clouded over a bit, too.

Our three leaders - Frapporti, Maestri and Cima - have passed the town of Pitigliano. The road is heading back uphill on a long uncategorised rise towards the town of Poggio Evangelista. The race will then drop down along a ridge overlooking Lake Bolsena before heading south-east towards Lake Bracciano ahead of today's finish in the suburbs of Rome. The gap is 11'10".

The gap continues to grow: it's over 12 minutes now for our three escapees.

The day ended well for Deceuninck-QuickStep, however, with their young Danish rider Kasper Asgreen winning the queen stage of the Tour of California...

Elia Viviani's directeur sportif Davide Bramati wasn't happy about the relegation of his sprinter yesterday...

It was that man Frapporti who took the 3pts over the summit, with Maestri pocketing 2pts and Cima 1pt. Frapporti moves up to third place in the KOM standings, level with Roglic on 4pts and some 20pts behind the maglia azzurra Ciccone. The gap is up to 11'45".

The three leaders have crested the summit of the climb to Manciano with well over 10 minutes to play with. We're awaiting confirmation of their order over the top, but Frapporti is currently the virtual maglia rosa as he's the best placed rider in this trio - albeit 6'13" down on Roglic in 127th place.

Tao Geoghegan Hart wasn't the only GC rider to lose time yesterday. Richard Carapaz (Movistar) punctured 8km from the finish and had just fought back onto the peloton when the crash which took down the British rider occured. In the end, Carapaz - who finished fourth overall last year - came home 46 seconds down and in a group that also included Domenico Pozzovivo of Bahrain Merida. Both riders are, in theory, here to support their team's principal GC leaders in Mikel Landa and Vincenzo Nibali - but their losses will be a blow all the same. As for Team Ineos's Geoghegan Hart, his 1'28" loss and two crashes are a nasty set-back after he impressed so much in the opening time trial.

The three leaders are onto the Cat.4 climb to Manciano with over eight minutes to play with.