Giro d'Italia stage 11 as it happened: Jonathan Milan takes second race victory

KEY STATS

Today's stage is the second longest of this year's Giro d'Italia, and the second of four to stretch over 200km. 

The total elevation gain between Foiano di Val Fortore and Francavilla al Mare is 1,850m, most of which comes in the first half of the stage. 

Here are the timings for the day, in BST: 

Roll-out: 11:05
Race start: 11:15
Expected finish: 16:00

So far, there have been three bunch sprint finishes at the race, with no sprinter winning twice. 

The first came on day three, won by Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), before Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) claimed victory the following day. Then, on stage nine into Naples, Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) dashed to a milestone first Grand Tour stage win. 

Since the rest day on Monday, though, the field is a now few sprinters short. Kooij abandoned ahead of stage 10. As did Astana Qazaqstan's Max Kanter. 

The big news this morning is that Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike), the white-jersey-wearer, has dropped out of the race. 

The Belgian became ill over the last few stages, and will not take the start on stage 11. 

"We are extremely disappointed that we needed to take him out, especially after we had to take out Olav [Kooij] yesterday," Visma-Lease a Bike DS Marc Reef said. "We are now in a situation where both of our guys who we had big goals with, where we could fight for, are both out. It's a huge setback also for the team." 

The squad now only have four riders in the race: Jan Tratnik, Edoardo Affini, Attila Valter and Tim van Dijke. 

"We need to stay positive," said Affini. "The four of us will be given the freedom to make the most of it." 

There must be something going round the peloton in Italy. Cofidis rider Stefano Oldani is also a non-starter today, unwell too. 

The riders have just rolled out of Foiano di Val Fortore for 10 minutes of neutralised riding. 

Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), "the only rider that so far showed some balls," according to Pogačar, is wearing the white jersey in Uijtdebroeks' absence. 

Stage 11 begins

204km to go: The flag drops to signal the start of the stage. There was a slight delay to allow a few stragglers, off the back with mechanical issues, to rejoin the peloton. 

203km to go: Thomas Champion (Cofidis) bites the bullet and kickstarts the day's breakaway. He is followed by Tim van Dijke and Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike). 

200km to go: The trio have stretched out a gap of 1-22. Surprisingly, nobody has tried to bridge across. Perhaps a sign that the peloton doesn't believe in the breakaway today? 

194km to go: The three riders in the breakaway pose no trouble to the general classification. Champion is one hour and 11 minutes down on Pogačar, while Affini and Van Dijke are both over two hours in arrears. 

Here's our brave trio, led by Thomas Champion of Cofidis. It looks like they'll have a lot of time to get to know each other – there's around four and a half hours until the finish. 

183km to go: The riders are descending now on the approach to the only categorised climb of the day, a simple category three. It starts with 167km to go. 

Can we expect to see Tadej Pogačar on lead-out duties today? According to the Slovenian, the answer is no. 

"I wish I could do it, but I think today it's going to be a chaotic final because it's a long, straight final, [with] wind," he told Eurosport. "Today, a lot of sprinters' teams will be there, so I don't think there will be room for me."

Pogačar added that he would have preferred "a bit of a shorter stage" today, and is hoping for a "controllable" race for the sprinters. 

He also touched on the criticism UAE Team Emirates has received for reeling in breakaways. "A lot of people were complaining that maybe we control to much or we win too much," the race leader said, pointing out that yesterday, on stage 10, they let the escapees loose. "We saved a little bit, everybody got the chance for the breakaway, and everything together was good," he said.

162km to go: UAE Team Emirates are enjoying a chill day today. They're leaving the pulling to Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck – two teams with major sprint interests – and have tucked themselves away inside the peloton. 

159km to go: The leading trio take a 2-35 advantage over the top of the day's only categorised climb. Van Dijke takes maximum points, not that he's really collecting them. 

149km to go: The average speed so far today is 40km/h. There's a long downhill to come, before a flat 100km to the finish, so expect the pace to pick up. 

147km to go: The Visma-Lease a Bike car pulls up alongside Van Dijke for a chat. The conversation appears jovial, and the instructions seem to be to keep plugging away out front. 

141km to go: With a lull in the racing (it'll last for a while), here's an update on the situation out on the road.

A breakway trio of Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Edoardo Affini and Tim van Dijke (Visma-Lease a Bike) have a 2-23 lead. The mood in the peloton behind is calm, with Lidl-Trek currently at the head. 

134km to go: Alpecin-Deceuninck are staying near the front of the bunch. With nothing to write home about so far from Italy, the squad have their hopes today pinned on Kaden Groves, winner of a stage last year. 

"Today's a nice chance," the Australian said before the roll-out. "It's more or less a really straightforward final. It's not technical at all, and it's really important to have good timing. We go from a cross tailwind into a more headwind finish." 

131km to go: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) shoots out of the peloton for a handful of points at the intermediate sprint. The Italian's a big fan of his ciclamino skinsuit, and is determined to hang onto it. 

He leads the competition with 179 points ahead of Groves' 126. 

Time for a little game. Can you guess the SD Worx-Protime rider from the silhouette? 

The answer is in the comments section of the tweet. 

120km to go: The gap to the breakaway has tumbled slightly to 1-40. The sprint teams are cautious of letting it drift out too much. 

109km to go: Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) is on the lunchtime shift on the front of the peloton. The gap is now 1-30. I am eating risotto.

100km to go: It always feels like a significant moment, and for no real reason, but we're into the final 100km. Little has happened. 

95km to go: Here's another photo of the three riders who have dared to animate the stage – Van Dijke, Champion and Affini. I will duly give them the publicity they deserve for their efforts in the breakaway. Their advantage is now 1-19. 

Ok, I am now going to reveal the answer to the silhouette puzzle from 40 minutes ago. 

It is, indeed, Demi Vollering. A fun fact about Vollering, that I only learned this afternoon, is that her given name is not actually Demi. It's Adriana Geertruida. Adriana Geertruida Vollering. Look at her Wikipedia page if you don't believe me. 

86km to go: Someone sound the klaxon, because the breakaway's advantage has fallen under a minute – 53 seconds, to be exact. 

77km to go: The riders are now making their way northward up the Adriatic coast. For those geographically challenged, like myself, that's the one on the right side of Italy. 

69km to go: There's a bit of excitement at the day's second intermediate sprint. Towing Kaden Groves, four Alpecin-Deceuninck riders slip out of the peloton to set him up for a points coup, which he duly pulls off. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) opts not to bother.

55km to go: The breakaway's day looks doomed. Their advantage is now just 28 seconds. 

This seems like the right time for me to give my prediction for the stage. My head says Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), my heart says Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and I will be going with the latter. Groves for the win. 

47km to go: We're probably into the last hour of racing now. The average speed so far is just over 44km/h, and the sprint teams will turn up the pace into the finale. 

39km to go: Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) is going above and beyond today. He's been commanding the peloton for the last hour and a half, at least. Lidl-Trek's sprinter, Jonathan Milan, decided to sit out of the last intermediate sprint, so I suspect the team's all in for the finish. 

35km to go: The breakaway is no more. Our leading trio is swallowed up, just a kilometre out from the day's third and final intermediate sprint. 

34km to go: Ryan Mullen (Bora-Hansgrohe) wins the final intermediate sprint, gaining three bonus seconds. Geraint Thomas crossed the line second, earning two seconds back on Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the overall standings. 

29km to go: Jayco AlUla, Lidl Trek, Soudal Quick-Step and Alpecin Deceuninck are strewn out in lines across the road. 

24km to go: Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) appears on the front of the peloton briefly. He's keeping Tadej Pogačar safe. Either that, or he's trying to set things up for  Juan Sebastián Molano to sprint. 

21km to go: Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-Easy Post) has gone on a flier. It's an audacious move.

20km to go: A touch of wheels in the bunch sees a Kevin Vermaerke (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates) go down. Fortunately, they both fell in a grassy verge at the side of the road. 

18km to go: Piccolo, unsurprisingly, is immediately caught. 

Here's the finale that's fast approaching in Francavilla al Mare. After a U-turn with 4km to go, it's a straight line along the coast to the finish line. The riders will need to watch out for road furniture in the town, though, and there are a couple of roundabouts they'll have to navigate in the final 10km. 

There's going to be a real fight through the U-turn. Remember, the GC race goes to 3km to go (where times are taken in the event of a crash), so everyone will be battling to get there. 

10km to go: The speed has really picked up. With the wind on their backs, the peloton is rolling at around 70km/h. They'll turn into a headwind with 4km to go. 

6km to go: UAE Team Emirates and Lidl-Trek are fighting for control of the front of the bunch. 

5km to go: Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) takes up the charge. He wants to lead Tim Merlier through the U-turn coming up. 

4.5km to go: Pogačar goes the long way round a roundabout and loses about 15 positions. 

4km to go: Ineos Grenadiers lead through the U-turn. The peloton slows, and takes it easy. Fortunately, there have been no crashes. 

3km to go: Ineos Grenadiers are still on the front into the headwind. The sprint teams will soon start their dash. 

2km to go: Jayco AlUla have taken over on the front. The peloton is strung out behind. 

1km to go: Alpecin-Deceuninck charge down the middle of the road. Everyone is biding their time, wary of the headwind. 

500m to go: Still nobody has launched their sprint. 

JONATHAN MILAN WINS STAGE 11

Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) opened up his sprint first, dashing down the left side of the road, but the Belgian couldn't hold off Milan. That's two stage wins for the big Italian, and a decent helping of points for his ciclamino stronghold. 

There was a crash in the sprint. Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) was among those who came down. He's up and walking. 

Hold tight, I'll have a full race report up shortly. 

Some finish line photo for Milan. One for the mantelpiece. 

The full report from today's stage is now on our website. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) was relegated in the sprint, meaning Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished second. 

We'll be back again tomorrow with more live coverage from the Giro d'Italia.