88km to go: Ah, this was the plan. Mark Cavendish is having his bike changed – both wheels – and then loaded with gels, Mark Renshaw to the fore, and now he’s being ridden back to the front by an Astana teammate. He’s also asking for the car to take up some aerodynamics by being in front of them, thus preserving energy. He’s fully loaded up for this one, so much prep going into this plan.

95km to go: Bill Preston gets in touch: “These long flats stages can sometimes trip up GC contenders. Especially with wind and rain in the mix. Even a small error, like going the long longer way around a roundabout, can ruin a rider’s hopes (this did for Pinot and FDJ a couple of years back, however it did free him up to have some thrilling heroic rides as he was no longer marked as a threat).

“Equally nervous must be Cavendish’s team. The responsibility of organising, and then executing the correct time and place to get a stomp on for him. It could be one of those days where everything goes fine and the GC riders get a quiet one, Cav has to wait, and we’ll do it all again in the week. However, the sprint is going to be beillo, either way.”

100km to go: The pace has idled yet more after the taking on of bidons. Astana’s Mark Renshaw seem to be deliberating over something. “Changing the front wheel,” he says. Code word? Who knows. Guess we’ll soon find out.

Gary Naylor gets in touch: “One of many delights of Grand Tours is the explicit manifestation of cooperative behavioural norms. As in life, riders come together to act in their best collective interest, providing a background against which team and individual competition takes place. Those norms are not written down, nobody is in charge of their enforcement but they are accepted. They exemplify the opposite of relationships characterised by the transactional, by the exploitation of decency, by the sneer at the naivety of the Little People. Your competitors are also your comrades.”

115km to go: Still no sign of a breakaway.

130 km to go: Sam Bennett is among those who fancies the sprint but drops back in the sprint and it’s Mads Pedersen, with a smooth ride who takes the mountain points. Few big contenders didn’t seem to fancy that.

Here;‘s the overal standings.

• 1. Jonas Abrahamsen – 76

• 2. Kevin Vauquelin – 60

• 3. Mads Pedersen – 41

• 10. Wout van Aert – 22

140km to go: Still not much movement. The sprint comes up soon enough. Abrahamsen’s green jersey tenure will soon be at its end.

160km to go: A reminder of today’s easy stage. Jen Voight, on the Eurosport bike, says it’s the easiest beginning of any stage he can remember for the last 20 years. The intermediate sprint will come 94km or so into the stage. They’re currently on a road named after Coppi, for a climb of 1.1km, and all the teams are in formation. They’re in Tortona, final resting place of Coppi. Jonas Abrahamsen goes over the top to claim the mountain points; he leads that category as well as the green jersey points.

165km to go: The word is the peloton is slower than expected, no breakaways. The fear now is that the rain comes and the teams are requesting the fans are not allowed too close to what are likely to be greasy roads.

190km to go: Not much happening, all together at the front, plenty of mugging for the camera by the riders, who are smashing along nicely. Up ahead, beckons the home town of Fausto Coppi, Italy’s finest ever cyclist. Learn about him here. Quite the life. He won Le Tour in 1949 and 1952.

200km to go: The word is that storms may crash the party at 2pm. The Italian region has been swamped by them of late. The peloton at the moment is the very opposite of stormy. No breakaway.

205 km to go: “I’m a bit tired,” says Mark Cavendish, chatting to Discovery. His Astana team radio, Mark Renshaw, his former leadout man, is telling the team that nobody seems to fancy breaking away. “It’s a 700m run to the line,” says Cav. “It’s good to get the leadout done by then.” A lot of faith is being placed in Michael Mørkøv, his leadout, similarly 39 years old, and a leadout man of real distinction.

220km to go: Thus far, it’s been an intriging tactical battle. No breakawaus on the flat.

230km to go: Christian Prudhomme delays the start by waving his arms around, as a few riders have been slow in getting ready, and off we go from Piacenza. Nobody seems willing to take on an early break.

Jeremy Whittle’s report from Sunday, a great race into Bologna.

We’re under 5km from the départ réel, as they idle through the streets of Piacenza. Turin, an underrated city, awaits.

Could this be the one for Cav? This is the one – the first one, at least – that’s been been highlighted as the stage where he can surpass Eddy Merckx and go to 35 wins on Le Tour. Hopefully, the great man is not too gassed after two hard days in the saddle. The race is being led by Tadej Pogacar, whose team are likely to lock down the peloton, and that means there will be an opportunity for the sprinters. Enter Mark Cavendish, entering history?

Here’s William Fotheringham’s stage preview:

After Gino Bartali on Saturday, Pantani on Sunday, if it’s Monday it must be a stage that tips its hat to Fausto Coppi, passing through Tortona, home town of the campionissimo. As far as the action goes, today things should settle down – briefly – with a relatively innocuous, if lengthy, sprint stage, offering a first chance to assess the form of the fastmen, and a first opportunity for Mark Cavendish to tilt for that record-breaking stage win.