The front 11 get a minute on the chasing peloton before another five riders try to bridge the growing gap.
Vasko Conforti Soderqvist Sanikwathi Yzeiraj
Mihkels tries to join after them, but the peloton is having none of it and pulls the whole move back.
Four more try their luck to bridge across.
Svrcek Singh Landbo Soderqvist
Only Svrcek is allowed to go clear, and after eight kilometres of chasing he finally makes it across.
That leaves 12 riders in the morning breakaway, with a gap of three and a half minutes and 175kms still to race.
With 100kms to go on steep slopes of the Salita di Valletri, the leaders have 2'20" in hand, but the advantage had climbed to nearly six minutes earlier in the day.
BOTD Breakdown
Name
Team
Age
FL
MM
HI
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
Career Wins
Milan
Los Pollos Hermanos
23
70
59
63
71
68
74
65
76
76
0
Kloppenborg
Specialized
25
71
64
65
74
74
66
69
65
73
0
El-Doghmy
Ethiopian Airlines
27
74
65
67
70
67
70
68
74
73
0
Murillo
Assa Abloy
25
72
64
67
72
73
70
70
67
72
1
Fratczak
MOL Cycling Team
24
68
71
74
69
76
75
65
70
72
0
Rangel
Lotto-Caloi
25
69
65
65
73
71
70
69
67
68
0
Rodriguez
McCormick Pro Cycling
25
77
61
62
72
72
62
61
73
74
1
Huby
cycleYorkshire
25
72
66
68
69
74
70
71
69
73
0
Fetter
DK Zalgiris
26
73
64
68
72
69
70
66
67
70
0
Matsumoto
Assa Abloy
30
73
72
71
70
74
70
65
65
76
0
Quicibal
Assa Abloy
32
78
63
68
69
71
67
63
62
66
8
Svrcek
Bolt - Eesti
23
71
68
69
71
67
67
69
66
69
0
The peloton isn't taking the climb easy either, and two riders are already being dislodged as they near the summit.
Niyonkuru Wallenborn
The sun is shining as El-Doghmy leads the 12-man breakaway onto the first cobbled sector with 79kms to go.
The peloton is just 1'40" behind, where a split on the downhill briefly saw around 35 riders go clear for a few hundred metres, but everything comes back together.
Youngster El Alouani attacks the peloton as soon as they hit the first cobbled sector and manages to get a gap.
Back at the front, Murillo gets a flat right as the race is starting to heat up.
Not exactly ideal timing.
Lecourt De Billot, Berckmoes, and Kumara go after El Alouani, who is quickly closing in on Murillo.
Murillo got his replacement tire quickly thanks to the neutral support and is back on his way.
Dekker suffers a puncture as well, although he is far enough ahead in the peloton to remain in the group. The problem now is getting back toward the front.
El Alouani and Murillo have joined the leaders with 69kms to go.
The trio of Lecourt De Billot, Berckmoes, and Kumara are closing the gap as well, but the 132-rider peloton is only 1'10" from the front of the race.
The trio eventually makes the junction on the next sector with 66kms remaining.
Grieg-Maersk and Cedevita are working well together to control the race, but are they at risk of bringing the breakaway back too early? There is still a long way to go.
Bohli gets a flat with 58kms to go. Not great for Per's right-hand man, but Bohli does manage to get things sorted out rather quickly.
Kolev successfully attacks across the gap with 56kms remaining.
Stavrakakis bridges across as well with 51kms to go, with the gap hovering around one minute.
Quicibal is back in the peloton as Rabobank starts to move up and take over some of the pacing.
The gap is still around one minute with 44kms to go. There are 17 riders now in the lead group, with 88 in the peloton.
Rabobank, with some help from Peugeot, finally brings the dangling breakaway back with 38kms to go. Let the fireworks begin.
The attacks are instant.
El Alouani Kumara Lecourt De Billot
Go again first, followed by a pair of favourites in:
Blume Levy Rutsch
Further back, three more are also trying to sneak away.
Noppe Berckmoes Rickaert
Dekker is also back from his earlier puncture and tries to bridge with Fretin.
Yet, none of this works. The later attacks simply bring everyone back together.
Let's start again.
Kumara starts the next round of attempts and looks over in surprise to see the Bralirwa - Cegeka pair of De Buyst and Girmay following his move across the asphalt with 33.5kms to go.
Kumara can't hang with the Bralirwa - Cegeka boys as this has become a real team attack with an angry peloton of 133 cyclists looking to pull back one of the strongest sprinters in the race.
This, on paper, seems foolish. But if it somehow works, pure genius.
Well, that was fun while it lasted... 4kms to be exact.
The move is pulled back, and it looks like Girmay may have completely wasted his teammate De Buyst in the process.
Girmay is truly a mad man. He's going again, this time solo with 27kms to go!
Girmay lasts another 4kms before the peloton, led by Grieg-Maersk, brings him back again. Per has effectively put his workhorses on the front, and it works to great effect.
Girmay's capture sparks a few more half-hearted attempts from:
De Buyst Van den Berg Dekker Lapeira
They are all looking for another competitor to take the bait and become the next carrot up the road.
None of it works. Nobody wants to copy Girmay's mistake. Until...
With just 6.4kms to go, Siric, wearing the blue Bosnia & Herzegovina NC jersey, shocks everybody with an attack on the final uphill kick.
It's a bold move considering he could have simply waited for the bunch sprint.
The depleted peloton of 12 riders briefly looks at each other. Per is sitting at the front of the chase group, but decides he doesn't have the leg power (or maybe will power) to match this attack.
The defending champion looks back over his shoulder, asking for help from those still remaining in this elite group:
Per's plea for assistance is ignored. So, he is eventually forced to attack after Siric on his own as the gap quickly jumps out to 30 seconds.
His attack immediately sheds Teggart, Moricz, and Stavrakakis from the chase group. Moulingui reaches his breaking point soon after as well.
Siric has kept his head down and is already under the kite.
But Girmay has found a second wind. He has pulled Per back and is now closing down Siric.
Tediashvili and Blume Levy are doing their best to follow Girmay. Meanwhile, Per looks uncharacteristically spent after that one big attack.
Girmay and Tediashvili have opened a gap over the others.
But can Siric be caught?
No. Fourth time is the charm for Siric.
After three straight runner-up finishes here, the second-place curse has been lifted. He is too exhausted to even celebrate, looking down at his handlebars in disbelief before 46 seconds passes by before the next finishers arrive.
Tediashvili outsprints a gassed Girmay for second place.
Well done from Trans Looney Tunes to keep Tediashvili sheltered and rested throughout the race, setting him up to grab a somewhat surprising result given the competition.
And Girmay can surely be happy with a podium after nearly ruining his great form today with two seemingly silly long-range attacks that went nowhere.
Blume Levy, Per, and Rutsch are the next group to cross, in that order, shortly after.
Impressive ride from Blume Levy, while Per and Rutsch were undoubtably hoping for better.
They are followed by another trio of Lapeira, Gerts, and Schreurs.
Rounding out the top 10 is Teggart, ahead of Stavrakakis and Moricz.
Moulingui holds on for 13th before a long pause sees Dekker bring in the next big group, more than 3'25 behind the winner.
Roma Maxima
