The Giro d'Italia comes to a close with its grand finale in the city of Brescia and what promises to be a fabulous bunch kick at the end of a memorable race. After a number years with crucial time trials to round off the event - few can forget how Joaquin Rodriguez was stripped of the maglia rosa on the final day of racing last year - the Giro will this year finish off with a largely ceremonial flat final stage. However, the racing will get furious on the final laps on a circuit in Brescia and Mark Cavendish would love to finish his string of sprint successes by winning the final stage and bringing home the grand tour points jersey still lacking on his palmares. Starting at 14.15 you can follow the final day of racing in the Giro on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

Unlike the Tour and the Vuelta which always finish in Paris and Madrid respectively, the final destination of the Giro varies a bit. It is very often Milan which hosts the final stage of the Italian grand tour but in 2009 the race finished in Rome and in 2010 Ivan Basso was declared winner in Verona. After finishes in Milan in both 2011 and 2012, the 2013 edition will finish in Brescia and for the first time since 2007 when Maximiliano Richeze sprinted to a win in Milan, the final stage will not be a time trial. Instead, it will be a - rather long - 197km, completely flat stage which finishes with 7 laps on a 4,1km circuit.

The stage has been the bait that should convince the sprinters to survive  the hard mountain stages in the third week as  the win on the final day of a grand tour is highly prestigious. Having won on the Champs-Elysees four years in a row there is little doubt that a certain Mark Cavendish would relish the opportunity to bookend the Italian grand tour with stage victories and we will certainly see a big bunch kick as a perfect end to what has been a fascinating grand tour on a very well-balanced course.

The final circuit has a number of corners and inside the final 2km, no less than 6 bends will challenge the riders. The final straight is only 500m long and that means that positioning is key to obtain a good result. If the final day of racing should have reflected the Giro until now, it would have been fitting for the peloton to tackle the final circuit under a torrential downpour - even with some snow thrown in for good measure - but luckily Brescia greets the riders with some bright sunshine and dry roads.

It's hard to say why the Giro organizers have given up the recent trend of finishing their race with a time trial. On the one hand, an individual race against the clock is a perfect way to pay tribute to each of the riders who have struggled through three torturous weeks of racing. On the other hand Fignon's and Rodriguez' losses of the leader's jerseys on the final day of racing are just recent examples of how gruel a time trial on an otherwise festive day can be. Both the Tour and Vuelta have left behind the idea of finishing their races with time trials in recent years and at least in this edition the Giro has joined the trend.

One rider is more pleased with this decision than any other. Not only does it give him the opportunity to extend his list of wins in final grand tour stages - he already has four on the Champs-Elysees while he was beaten by Tyler Farrar in Madrid when he finished the Vuelta for the only time in 2010 - it also provides him with another chance to bolster his tally in the points competition. The battle for the red jersey is the only one which has not yet been decided and Nibali takes a narrow 11-points lead into the final stage.

Cavendish won the points jersey in the Tour in 2011 and in the Vuelta in 2010 and only lacks the Italian one on his palmares. The fewer sprint stages and different points system makes it much harder for a sprinter to win the coveted jersey in the Giro and in the Tour (with the recent trend of uphill finishes in the Vuelta, the points jersey in a Spanish grand tour is probably now the hardest for a sprinter to win) and this year certainly presents Cavendish with a unique possibility to finally get finally fill that gap on his list of wins. Last year he lost by only 1 point to Rodriguez, and he will not let that happen once again.

The riders will travel along at a leisurely pace in the opening part of the stage until racing gets serious when they get closer to the finish. Unlike the Tour and the Vuelta which have rather well-defined points at which the racing starts, the new finish in Brescia makes it a little bit more uncertain when the riders will actually start to compete. The stage is rather long and the first passage of the finish line will take place with only 29,1km to go, and so we should expect the riders to up the race before the reach the final circuit.

Cavendish is of course the big favourite to take the win and so the points jersey but a bunch sprint is an unpredictable event and a small mistake by one of his competitors can deny him the possibility to sprint for the win. If he has not picked up any points along the course, he needs to finish in the top 5 to edge out Nibali in the battle for the red jersey and that could be a little bit too big of a risk. Hence, we could see Omega Pharma-Quick Step try to keep the peloton under firm control until the first intermediate sprint with 67,9km to go - they tried the same tactic yesterday but gave up - where Cavendish could bolster his tally by adding another 8 points. That would mean that a 13th place would be sufficient to take the red jersey which makes the final sprint less crucial. If it is a very aggressive race, the Belgian team will, however, probably keep their powder dry for later. The final intermediate sprint is located with 16,6km to go and while Cavendish will certainly pick up any remaining points if it requires only a little effort, he will not go all out in a sprint so close to the finish.

The big question is of course if anyone will be able to beat Cavendish in a circuit race like today's. Based on the previous 4 sprints he has contested, the answer should of course be negative. However, one crucial thing has changed since his last "real" bunch sprint in Treviso (he did not have any support from his teammates the following day in Cherasco as they had all been used up to chase down the breaks). Gert Steegmans has left the race with stomach problems and that means that Cavendish lacks his final lead-out man who had appeared to be reinvigorated as one of the best lead-out men in the world during the first days of this Giro.

That leaves the Brit with the young Matteo Trentin as his final man and while the Italian certainly knows how to bring a sprinter into a good position - just recall how he delivered Gerald Ciolek in the Volta ao Algarve last year - he has limited experience at this level. Furthermore, Cavendish now lacks a strong man to fill the role that Trentin usually plays as the man to bring Steegmans and Cavendish into a good position. It is hard to see any of his other teammates possess the necessary top speed to do that job.

The many corners mean that Cavendish has to start his sprint in a good position and his support could very well come up short against the mighty Orica-GreenEdge, Cannondale and Argos-Shimano trains. On the other hand, the Manxman knows how to take care of himself in the run-in to a sprint and if Trentin can latch him some of the more well-drilled train, he has a good chance to come out victorious. Without any doubt he is the big favourite but he may have to improvise a little more in the sprint than he has done until now in this race.

Luke Mezgec took over the job as Argos-Shimano sprinter when John Degenkolb left the race, and the young Slovenian has delivered on his promise by taking no less than 3 3rd places in the sprints he has contested until now. His 3 4th places in the Tour de Romandie is another testament to his consistency and he knows how to find his way through the chaos in a hectic finale. Furthermore, he has arguably one of the strongest lead-out trains in the peloton with Albert Timmer, Bert De Backer and Koen De Kort all ready to deliver their sprinter to the line and if he is brought into a good position, he could be the man to deliver the surprise.

Elia Viviani was Cavendish' closest challenger in the first two sprints of the race but since then he appears to have faded considerably. In Cherasco he was delivered perfectly by his team but he was simply outsprinted by a number of rivals to finish way off the mark in 5th. That could of course just be the case of a bad day, and with a very eager and hungry Cannondale team to support him he could very well be the sprinter to enter the final 500m in the best position. If he is back to his best, he should be the man Cavendish has most reason to worry about.

Giacomo Nizzolo has been huge consistent in the sprints until now in the Giro. Unlike Viviani and Mezgec, he does not have a well-drilled lead-out train to support him but he has the very experienced Danilo Hondo to bring him into position. Until now that has been enough to put him into the top 10 in every sprint, and in Cherasco he could even have beaten Cavendish, had the finish been located just a few meters further down the road. However, that sprint came at the end of a very tough finale and today's easier circuit race is not as well-suited to the young Italian.

Brett Lancaster had to fill in the role of Orica-GreenEdge sprinter in Treviso and Cherasco when Matt Goss suffered from illness and Leigh Howard had left the race. Goss is now also back home and that means that the Australian team will once again look to their usual lead-out man to deliver the goods. The usually very strong lead-out train is in pieces due to the abandonments of Goss and Howard, and so Lancaster will not be able to rely on the usual very strong support. In his previous sprint he came from far back to finish in the top 5, and if Jens Keukeleire and Jens Mouris can bring him into a good position this time, he could very well take a podium spot in today's sprint.

Roberto Ferrari has not hit the outstanding form that saw him challenge the best - and take a win - in last year's Giro and today is his last chance to make up for the missed opportunities. He is mostly left to fight for himself in the final part of the races but his lack of results also seem to be due to his own lack of speed. It would be a surprise if he suddenly turns everything around today but at his best he is one of the few with top speed to challenge the best.

Robert Hunter has so far missed out in the sprints and he was clearly frustrated when a move by Mattia Gavazzi took away a good opportunity for him in Margherita di Savoia. At that point he was left to take care of himself in the run-in to the line but with Hesjedal out of the race he can now rely on an in-form Ramunas Navardauskas. He stepped up to fill the role of sprinter in the 2010 Tour de France after the abandonment of Tyler Farrar and proved that he has the speed to compete with the best. If he finally managed to start his sprint in a good position, he could be up there battling for the podium spots.

Other names to mix it up could be the very consistent Manuel Belletti, Adam Blythe, Davide Appollonio and an eager Kenny Dehaes while the easy course makes it difficult for riders like Francisco Ventoso and Sacha Modolo (who has also fallen ill) to be right at the front. And then it will be interesting to see whether less experienced sprinter like Ioannis Tamouridis, Edwin Avila and Rafael Andriato can bag a top 10 spot on the final day of racing.

CyclingQuotes' stage winner picks: Mark Cavendish, Luka Mezgec, Elia Viviani

Outsiders: Giacomo Nizzolo, Brett Lancaster, Roberto Ferrari