Mark Cavendish took his 100th career victory in the 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia on an incredible wet day in Northern Italy. His Omega Pharma-Quick Step was under great pressure and only managed to catch the early break inside the final kilometer while a sick Bradley Wiggins was dropped on the final descent and lost more than 3 minutes to his rivals.

Mark Cavendish had battled through rain and cold and climbed high mountains to get the opportunity to take career win number 100 in today's 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia and the Manxman delivered the goods when he finally got the opportunity to unleash his incredible burst of speed. Catching the day's early break just 500m from the line his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team delivered him perfectly to the line and he held off Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) and Luka Mezgec (Argos-Shimano) on a very wet and cold day.

Behind the Manxman there was plenty of drama as a sick Bradley Wiggins (Sky) was dropped on the day's final climb and despite assistance from his entire Sky team - with the exception of Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Uran - he never managed to regain contact with the peloton. Instead, he ended up losing more than 3 minutes and could very well choose to abandon the race to recover ahead of the Tour de France.

The sprint came at the end of a very dramatic final part of the race which was held in pouring rain. Jerome Pineau (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) led the peloton down the final descent with around 30km left 2.30 behind the day's early break consisting of Bert De Backer (Argos-Shimano), Fabio Felline (Androni-Giocattoli), Maurits Lammertink (Vacansoleil), Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) and Maxim Belkov (Katusha) and there were some tense moments as the Belgian team appeared to be a little under pressure.

Pineau was assisted by his teammates Gianluca Brambilla and Serge Pauwels as they hit the flat roads at the end of the descent but despite their hardest efforts they were unable to claw back time on the breakaway. Meanwhile, the breakaway saw an opportunity and really gave their all to keep the peloton at bay.

Everything changed when news broke that the peloton had split on the descent and a sick Bradley Wiggins - who had already been in trouble on a descent earlier in the race - was part of large group that had lost contact. BMC saw the opportunity to once and for all eliminate the Brit from the victory battle and Taylor Phinney and Stephen Cummings hit the front of the peloton which was now completely strung out.

More riders decided to join the chase as Lampre-Merida and Movistar also wanted to see Wiggins fall out of the top 10 while Cannondale and Orica-GreenEdge wanted to bring it back together to set up a sprint for Elia Viviani and Matthew Goss respectively. The gap started to come down rapidly but when they passed the 10km to go banner the 5-rider break was still 1 minute ahead.

Behind, Wiggins was even unable to keep up with his group and Christian Knees even had to fall back to bring him back before his entire Sky team - except Uran and Henao - started to chase. However, he kept losing time and at the line he had lost more than 3 minutes.

Up ahead most teams stopped their efforts and it was now left to the Omega Pharma-Quick Step trio of Julien Vermote, Michal Golas and Jerome Pineau to chase down the break on the final 7,5km technical circuit in Treviso. The gap continued to come down but at 5km to go it was still 19 seconds and the break had still all to play for.

However, Cannondale decided to contribute and that spelled the end of the escape's life. With 2,5km to god Matteo Trentin took over at the head of the peloton to start Cavendish' lead-out and with 500m to go it was all over for the break as Felline and Lammertink were the last to be picked up.

Instead, the sprinters were left to battle it out and Gert Steegmans delivered Cavendish perfectly. The Manxman opened a long sprint with Sacha Modolo (Bardiani) and Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) in his wheel and no one got even close to the fastest man on earth. He took a convincing 100th career win ahead of Bouhanni and Luka Mezgec.

Behind, the peloton rolled over the line shattered to pieces as the treacherous conditions had seen the organizers take the time at the 3km to go banner. Vincenzo Nibali safely kept his overall lead on a day that proved much tougher than most had expected.

If the weather is similar to today's in tomorrow's 13th stage, it will be another really hard day. The 254km are mostly flat but many hours under pouring rain can make it a very unpleasant day in the saddle.

Starting at 14.15 you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

5 riders on the move after a delayed start

The short 134km stage descended mostly from the mountains and was always seen as one of the few opportunities for a sprint finish. Heavy rain and a breakdown of a bus saw the race start being delayed by 15 minutes and an extension of the neutral zone but the race finally got going in harsh weather conditions.

Felline, Lammertink, De Backer and Belkov escaped immediately after the start while Marcato set off in pursuit when the gap was close to a minute. A long chase on the day's first, uncategorized climb saw the him reach the group shortly after the top and the 5 riders were allowed to build up a gap of a little more than 3 minutes.

Cannondale starts to chase

Behind, Cannondale was the first team to start to chase as Cameron Wurf hit the front while behind Bradley Wiggins was very careful on the descent and briefly lost contact with the peloton. He was, however, brought back to the group by a teammate but it gave the first indications that the Brit was not really fit to race.

Up ahead some drama happened as 4 of the 5 escapees slid out in a wet corner on the descent. The quickly remounted and chased down the lone De Backer who had managed to stay upright, but the group certainly lost some costly ground due to the incident.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step on the front

Meanwhile, Omega Pharma-Quick Step had now started to chase and for many kilometres Brambilla was alone in the lead, keeping the gap stable between the 2 and 3 minutes marks. Later he was joined by Pauwels while Wurf worked a little from time to time.

The next key point of the stage was the day's first categorized climb which was an opportunity for some of the teams to put Cavendish a little under pressure. However, no one took the opportunity and the peloton rolled up at a modest pace and the only one to get troubled by the ascent was Mattia Gavazzi (Androni).

A concerted chase effort

At the top, the gap was 3.03 and after the descent Brambilla, Pauwels, Wurf and Cristiano Salerno (Cannondale) all collaborated in the chase. They brought the gap down to around the 2 minutes mark but as soon as they hit the day's final climb with around 40km to go, they once again had to slow down to not tire out their sprinters.

Once again the peloton rolled up at a modest pace and at the top the gap was down up to 2.29. Pineau hit the front to start the descent and from then on hell broke loose as Wiggins got dropped whille Cavendish ended up finishing off his team's efforts in style.

Result:

1. Mark Cavendish 3.01.47

2. Nacer Bouhanni

3. Luka Mezgec

4. Giacomo Nizzolo

5. Brett Lancaster

6. Manuel Belletti

7. Roberto Ferrari

8. Sacha Modolo

9. Ioannis Tamouridis

10. Francisco Ventoso

General classification:

1 Vincenzo Nibali - Astana Pro Team 46.28.14
2 Cadel Evans - BMC Racing Team 0.41
3 Rigoberto Uran Uran - Sky Procycling 2.04
4 Robert Gesink - Blanco Pro Cycling Team 2.12
5 Michele Scarponi - Lampre-Merida 2.13
6 Mauro Santambrogio - Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 2.55
7 Przemyslaw Niemiec - Lampre-Merida 3.35
8 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga - Movistar Team 4.05
9 Domenico Pozzovivo - Ag2R La Mondiale 4.17

10 Rafal Majka - Saxo-Tinkoff 4.21

Points classification:

1. Mark Cavendish 83

2. Cadel Evans 73

3. Elia Viviani 60

4. Maxim Belkov 55

5. Rigoberto Uran 53

Mountains classification:

1. Stefano Pirazzi 46

2. Jackson Rodriguez 26

3. Robinson Chalapud 23

4. Maxim Belkov 18

5. Giovanni Visconti 16

Youth classification:

1. Rafal Majka 46.32.35

2. Carlos Betancur +1.05

3. Wilco Kelderman +4.34

4. Darwin Atapuma +8.31

5. Diego Rosa +24.09