Ciao, buongiorno e benvenuto... to live coverage of the first monument of the season - the 110th edition of Milano-Sanremo.

Maestri, Sagiv, Schonberger, Planet and Tonelli are the five riders in pursuit of Masnada.

A pinch point in the road bunches the pack up and causes some to come to a standstill, including Kristian Sbaragli of Israel Cycling Academy, who will be hoping to feature at the finish today.

Interestingly, Julian Alaphilippe is near the back of the pack with two QuickStep team-mates, so perhaps he's had a problem or has been keeping out of trouble. Either way, he'll know now that it's time to edge up and get into a better position.

Masnada has a small gap over five chasers while the first two of the escapees have now been caught by the pack, who trail the lone leader by 1:05. Groupama, Ag2R and Bahrain are all on the front as the pace hots up.

The flames from those flares set fire to a bush and so there's a bit of a burn going on back on the Capo Berta but luckily the race passes by before it spreads. Let's hope they put that one out.

Masnada has 15-odd seconds over the other escapees over the summit. Further back the peloton has got a bit more animated as Team Sky come to the front to up the tempo for their man Michal Kwiatkowski. Many riders have been dropped including, surprisingly, Dylan Teuns of CCC.

Masnada catches and drops Schonberger before riding clear through the smoke of the flares near the summit.

With the gap coming down to 1:25 the first move comes in the break. It's the Austrian Sebastian Schonberger who zips clear ahead of the Capo Berta. Bardiani duo Maestri and Tonelli try to follow but it's left to Masnada to try and close the gap.

We're onto the Capo Cervo and it's still Hansen leading the chase as one rider, Lorenzo Rota of Bardiani-CSF, drops a chain and is himself dropped by the peloton. The gap is still 2:10 for the leaders.

Today's break in the sunshine...

Adam Hansen has come to the front of the pack as they come onto the Capo Mele. The pack is just 2:10 down on the 10 leaders now and things should now start to spice up a little.

We're about to hit the Tre Capi climbs – the Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta. The gap is below three minutes now.

A few blasts from the Poggio past coming up...

Just over three minutes now for the leaders as they pass through Alassio and yet another sumptuous beach.

The pack rampages through the second feed zone of the day. On a day like this, when the race is so long and so incredibly backloaded, feeding strategy is extremely important. The gap is down to 3:15 so it looks like it won't be fourth time lucky for that man Maestri.

The French second-tier team Direct Energie have three riders near the front helping out with pacing duties. They have Niccolo Bonifazio if things come down to a sprint with the likes of Niki Terpstra and Lilian Calmejane as possible cards to play on the Cipressa or Poggio. That said, the Dutchman has never finished in the top 20 of Milano-Sanremo while the Frenchman is making his debut. But Bonifazio did make fifth in his first appearance in 2015.

A far cry from the snow-pummelled 2013 edition of the race, where the riders had to be bundled into buses on the Turchino and driven to the coast before the race resumed...

We have a rider each from Lotto Soudal and UAE Team Emirates on the front of the pack, too, ahead of the aforementioned Declercq and Bodnar. They will be working for Caleb Ewan and Fernando Gaviria respectively - although Emirates also have the 2014 winner Alexander Kristoff as a wildcard back-up option. The Norwegian has a great record here having finished fourth the past two years, sixth the year before that and runner up in 2015. Before his victory he finished 8th in 2013 and 131st in his debut in 2012. So, once he knew the ropes, Kristoff never finished outside the top 10 here. One to watch, surely?

A worthy companion to the race... especially while we wait for the late fireworks.