Time for the racing to begin here in Italy. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and Gabriel Brizuela of Lipton launches himself as we leave town.
Van Poppel (Eurosport), Cummings (Wiggle), Hopman (Virgin) and Engels (Warner) are all in a hurry to join him. For a few kilometers it looks as if this group may be let get away. Gatis Smukul has other ideas though, and when he takes off six or seven others scramble to follow him. The group is too big now to be let go and with B&O, Accumulax, Festina and La Gazzetta on the front the escapees are brought back. Everything is together again with 165k to go.
It doesn't stay that way for long and the next set of riders to try their luck get themselves into the break of the day. Engels is there for Warner, Brizuela again for Lipton, Ford for Virgin, Ingels for Festina. As we head into the hills, there are 105k to go and this group of four have a lead of around six and a half minutes.
It is B&O and Accumulux doing most of the work on the front and when the pack reaches the same point in the road the gap has also shrunk close to five and a half minutes.
Up the first slope Simon Gerrans is the first from the pack to put in an attack. Behind him, Eurosport captain Velits decides to test his legs too. Mollema and Hermans are the Rabobank and Wiggle riders who follow.
Even with La Gazzetta on the front of the pack hammering out a high pace these four manage to start to open a gap.
At the top of this first climb the original lead group have a gap of just over two and a half minutes back to the four chasers. The pack are a further 55 seconds behind. The main bunch ease up on the descent, the Gerrans/Velits/Mollema/Hermans groups do not and really hammer the pace as the gap increases.
Pineau (Wikipedia) decides the time may be right to make a move and jumps from out of the pack. Going with him are Gusev (Philips), Bellis (BA) and Cherel (White Bear).
At the foot of the days second major obstacle, the lead four now have a gap of only 28" on the second group who led by Velits are closing in quick. They are soon up to them and the lead group becomes 8. Bellis and Cherel are working hard to try and bridge up to this and Pineau and Gusev are struggling to stay with them.
Just under 70k to go and Bellis and Cherel have joined the lead 8 meaning it is now a group of 10. We are over the second of the days two big climbs. Pineau and Gusev have failed to make it across. They are 50' back, with the La Gazzetta, B&O and Festina led-pack around 2 minutes behind them.
Pineau and Gusev work hard on the descent but with 10 riders in front of them working hard togehter they just can't close the gap. 50k to go they are still 1'06" behind. The pack are picking up speed and have closed to 1'14" of this pair.
The pace and 20mph win is beginning to tell in the lead group. Ingels is the first to drift off the back and as we move into the final 30k, the lead nine have just under 1'30" on the charging pack.
There are three short sharp climbs on the run in and it looks as if Engels might be the strongest rider in the escape.
Back in the pack, Ballan is the rider who launches the first big attack.
He has quickly bridged up to the escapees, but with the Virgin now at the head of the pack, everything is just about together at the top.
On the flat before the next climb, it's Ballan again who makes a move.
Under the 20k to go banner and onto the second of the three climbs before the finish, he has a lead of just over 30 seconds. Posthuma puts in a major turn on the front for La Gazzetta on this climb, completely nullifying attacks from Ulissi and Sinkewitz.
He can't stop Nibali though he launches himself close to the summit. 18.5k to go.
Just under 15k to go, these two have just under 30 seconds. Do the two Italians have what it takes here to deliver a surprise result?
10k and the final climb of the run in. The two are striving to stay away. De La Fuente is the Gazzetta rider now burying himself for Cunego. But what of the other favourites?
Not quite at the summit, but here's one of them. With Ballan and Nibali just about caught, Rodriguez Oliver is making a move for Virgin.
It looks like a very well timed move too. Cunego and Sanchez are slow to see the danger but do eventually react.
With team leader Schleck in the pack but perhaps suffering from stomach problems, Pellizotti is much closer to the top when he is given the green light to pursue his own ambitions.
The descent and the run in to the finish is a fast one, and try and he might Nibali cannot stay with these four other powerhouses who have surely now made the winning move.
The finish is an uphill one and it is Cunego who leads the sprint out from a long, long way.
He's still leading 700 meters from the line. Do Rodriguez or Sanchez have the legs to come around?
500m and has Cunego finally hit the wall?
The last 250 meters. The others are running out of space.
After an extremely strong finish Cunego has delivered for his team and has won the Giro dell'Emilia and perhaps pushed La Gazzetta out of reach in the race for the PT title.
Sammy Sanchez takes 2nd, Rodriguez fades over the final few meters and is pipped at the line for 3rd by Pellizzoti who delivers for Accumulux in Schleck's place.
Nibali is swallowed up by the pack in the closing meters and Monfort delivers an impressive 5th for White Bear. 6th for Philips is Ulissi. Claeys is 7th for Domina, Marzano (Unicef) 8th, the unfortunate Nibali 9th and Danilo Di Luca grabs 10th.
