Giro d’Italia 2022 Stage 16 LIVE – Richard Carapaz defends slender lead in pink as Mortirolo looms

10:48 — Valverde sniffing around the front Ad/> 185km to go: The Spanish veteran is clearly motivated today after dropping out of the top 10 over the weekend. Valverde is just over nine minutes down on GC and it remains to be seen if a rider of his experience and calibre would be allowed to get in a break on such a key stage. The road is going uphill now but the official start to the climb isn't for another 20km.

But the gap has come down to 50 seconds. Giro d'ItaliaBlazin’ Saddles: Can Bora hunt down Carapaz? — Things to look out for in Giro final week20 HOURS AGO 10:42 — Diego Rosa tries to bridge over 188km to go: Numerous riders have tried their luck on this false flat ahead of the first climb. The latest is the Italian Diego Rosa, who trails blue jersey Koen Bouwman by 17pts in the KOM standings.

It's no surprise to see him on the offensive. It comes to nothing as his back wheel is swamped and the advantage of this break is now pushing one minute. 10:35 — Cavendish among the early attackers 195km to go: The Dutchman has been joined by compatriot Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma), the Frenchman Nans Peters (Ag2R-Citroen), Belgium's Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Denmark's Chris Juul-Jensen (BikeExchange-Jayco) and — would you believe it — Britain's Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl).

They open up a gap of around 15 seconds but behind there is much movement... 10:30 — Stage 16 under way! 202km to go: After a slight delay — you can't blame them for taking that neutralised climb slowly, to be fair — the flag goes down and the attacks start in earnest. And wouldn't you know… it's that man Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Fenix who is the first to have a pop.