Giro d'Italia 2023 Stage 16 recap: Geraint Thomas back in pink after Joao Almeida wins on Monte Bondone

There's been a big shake out in this breakaway now with the Paret-Peintre brothers, Haig, Konrad, Healy, Gee, Verona and Zana coming to the fore in pursuit of Pronskiy and Scaroni. That means the likes of Benedetti, Lastra, Bais, Gabburo, Magli, Marcellusi, Tonelli, Puccio, Swift, Hepburn, Skujins and Ulissi are dropping back.

Bruno Armirail has once again gone for a pink bike along with his jersey and helmet. But he's down to just one Groupama team-mate now - Thibaut Pinot - as Jumbo-Visma take it up on the front of the peloton and shave a minute off the lead of those two Astana riders out ahead. Things coming to a boil nicely...

Scaroni and Pronskiy have started the fourth and penultimate ascent, which is 9.9km long at an average gradient of 6.6%. They have 1'55" on the rest of the break, which has just reeled in Benedetti and is beginning to shed riders under some hefty tempo from Jack Haig on the front.

The showers have been very localised because our leading Astana duo - the only Astana riders not nursing Mark Cavendish up these climbs, in all likelihood - are now enjoying the next part of this tiered descent without the worry of sliding into oblivion. They have 2'10" on Cesare Benedetti, who has once again used his local knowledge to ride clear of the break, which is 25 seconds further back. The peloton - still being led by a combination of Jumbo Visma and Groupama riders - is six minutes behind.

We're onto a potentially crucial and decisive part of today's stage - which has been made all the more difficult owing to the sudden inclement weather. And that's terrible luck for one of the two Astana leaders with Pronskiy needing a rear wheel change after a puncture. Instead of changing bikes, his team mechanic opts to change his rear wheel, which takes quite some time because of the disc brakes.

The road goes up and down at the moment as it makes its way to the foot of the penultimate climb. Pronskiy manages to rejoin Scaroni and they continue on their way with a gap of 2'15" on the break, which has regrouped again. The peloton, which has caught Thomas Champion, is a further four minutes in arrears.

Wow - it's really come in quick, and this descent takes on a fresh dynamic now that it's wet and slippery. The Astana duo - Scaroni and Pronskiy - have 1'40" over Healy, Marcellusi and Gabburo, who are a handful of seconds ahead of the rest of the break. The peloton is now over five minutes in arrears following that attack by the two Astana riders.

The Astana riders take first and second over the top of the climb and then Ben Healy is once again caught out and sandwiched between two Green Project riders when he comes over the top. The Irishman still takes another 4pts for fourth place in his blue jersey kitty - which puts him up to 156pts, 12 clear of Davide Bais at the top.

Would you believe it? We're hearing that it's raining cats and dogs on the final climb - which is typical, given the sunny start we've had to this stage. The Astana duo, meanwhile, now have 55 seconds over the rest of the break, which is down to 21 riders after Jonathan Milan dropped back after his intermediate sprint cameo.

Vadim Pronskiy has ridden clear of the breakaway and he's been joined by Astana team-mate Christian Scaroni. They have a small gap over the others, with Green Project looking to close the gap and Movistar's Carlos Verona also upping the tempo. We're also hearing that Pavel Sivakov has been dropped by the peloton. The Frenchman was right in the thick of the GC top 10 last week until he came down in that crash which ended team-mate Tao Geoghegan Hart's race.

So, that's one fewer team-mate for Geraint Thomas, who only has Laurens De Plus and Thymen Arensman with him now - although he has Salvatore Puccio and Ben Swift up the road.

Right, we're onto the third of five climbs, the Cat.3 ascent to Matassone, which is 11.4km long at 5.6%. The stats are skewered because the second half really flattens out and even has one downhill segment, whereas the opening half is consistently tough with a maximum gradient of almost 10%. The gap for the breakaway is still around the 3'30" mark.

After Mads Pedersen's withdrawal last week, Derek Gee became the closest challenger to Jonathan Milan's maglia ciclamino. Here are the current standings:

1. Jonathan Milan 176pts
2. Derek Gee 118pts
3. Pascal Ackermann 88pts
4. Toms Skujins 79pts
5. Nico Denz 75pts

Benedetti has now been caught as Jonathan Milan comes to the front in anticipation of the intermediate sprint at Rovereto. When it comes along, Toms Skujins - perhaps protecting the invisible ciclamino points tally of his KO'ed team-mate Mads Pedersen - who puts up a fight but the Italian is too strong and it's Milan who takes maximum points ahead of the Latvian. The ubiquitous Derek Gee takes third place.

The Australian needs some assistance from his Bahrain Victorious mechanics near the bottom of this descent, but there's no stress or worry and he'll be back in with the others before too long. Meanwhile, Marcellusi's move was neutralised but Italian/Polish veteran Cesare Benedetti - who hails from this neck of the Italian woods - has opened up a decent gap out ahead. He must know this descent like the back of his hand because he looks rather surprised to have got such a large gap. Indeed, he sits up and waits for his fellow escapees - after all, he'll be here for Bora team-mate Konrad more than anything.

It's quite odd tactics - and technically against the rules - but Gianni Moscon seems to have sat up from the peloton, turned round and gone back in search of his Astana team-mate Mark Cavendish in the gruppetto. The British champion was in an early break today but that came to nothing. If he can avoid the time cut today then he'll have a great chance at competing for the stage win tomorrow because the parcours is pan flat and there's a negative altitude gain over the course of the 192km. And with the likes of Pedersen and Groves out of the race, the 38-year-old will stand a good chance at picking up an 19th Giro stage win.

One of the four Green Project riders has opened up a gap on this descent but it's only a matter of seconds. The big take-away from the day so far is that Jonathan Milan is still in this break, which bodes well for the Italian sprinter, who can now descent towards the intermediate sprint at Rovereto to extend his lead in the maglia ciclamino standings.

Once again, Green Project-Bardiani - who has no one in the top 34 riders in the blue jersey standings entering today's stage - take the fight to Ben Healy on the climb. Marcellusi attacks early to string things out and spark a response from the Irishman, who then sits up when Davide Gabburo rounds him ahead of the summit.

Healy clearly made the calculation there and came to the conclusion that there was no point blowing up over a matter of 5pts. Odd tactics from Green Project - after all Gabburo started the day with zero KOM points. Anyway, it's the Italian who takes 9pts over the top of the Cat.3 Passo Bordala with Healy settling for 4pts and second place.

1. Ben Healy 152pts
2. Davide Bais 144pts
3. Einer Rubio 116pts
4. Thibaut Pinot 114pts
[...]
9. Davide Gabburo 27pts

After a short descent the riders are straight onto the next test, the Cat.3 Passo Bordala, which is 4.6km long at 7%. We had unlikely reports of rain from Adam Blythe from the back of the motorcycle but that must have been a rogue passing shower because the peloton is still basking in sunshine for now.

It's still Jumbo's Affini and Armirail's Groupama-FDJ who regulate the tempo for the main pack as they come over the top around three minutes down - making it more likely that the stage winner today comes from within, rather than from the group of riders up the road. Derek Gee, meanwhile, has a puncture and needs a new bike ahead of the descent.

Green Project-Bardiani look to use their four-man advantage by infiltrating the battle for blue - with an early attack near the summit to lead out Davide Gabburo. But Ben Healy has too much in the tank and it's the Irishman who goes over the top of the Passo di Santa Barbara to take the 40pts which puts him in the blue jersey for now. In the live standings, Healy now has 148pts - which is 4pts clear of the current maglia azzurra Davide Bais of Eolo-Kometa. Bais's brother and team-mate Mattia is in the break today but he was unable to defend his siblings' lead there.