Today we have a circuit race in France, and although rated flat there are just enough hills here today to keep the puncheurs interested. That said the big favourites are all sprinters, and they don't come bigger much than Goss, Davis and Kennaugh, although my number one pick is Steegman who is slightly strong all around and hence might be quicker up the final climb, anyway lets kick this off
5 men go from the gun: Appleby, Sastre, Novikov, Dempster and Bongiorno
Bacardi keep control and with 100km to go the gap is just 4 minutes
However they don't start chasing until Petronus help out, 60km to go and the gap is 4'30" and falling
As we start the penultimate lap with 30km to go Appleby and Sastre are solo 1'30" ahead of the peleton
Zirbel makes a move at the front of the peleton, Martin and Capecchi quickly cover it
Zirbel reaches the front, Martin just behind him
However Appleby is the 100% Me rider who joins Zirbel, Martin is stuck with Sastre half way between them and the peleton
Zirbel takes the bell, Martin is solo at 15 seconds, with the peleton a minute back, this is starting to get worrying
14km to race and Sastre is pulled in, the peleton arn't making an impact on Zirbel though, Appleby is happy to sit on his wheel and wait for Martin
10km to go and Martin seems to have given up on the front two, he's 40 seconds ahead of the peleton now, so third is still on
however just 3km later he's done, Martin just didn't have enough today. Bacardi are working well now, and on the uphill finish they will look to reel in the leaders whos gap has halved to 40 seconds
2.4km to go and the two leaders start to sprint as the road rises, theoretically Appleby is the better climber, and they are similar sprinters, however Zirbel has been so strong today, so even with all of Appleby's sitting on wheels he may struggle to come round
And in case you thought this was a two horse race, the peleton have closed the gap right up, what a finish we will have today
1.5km to go and Feillu has almost caught the leaders, Gaywood and Abakoumov are the closest other sprinters
Appleby moves into the lead, Feillu is upon him
with 700m to go Feillu takes the lead
Victory is his
Gaywood gets second ahead of Capecchi and Casper. Forero is fifth, just in front of an exhausted Appleby. Goss is 7th, dissapointing after all the work his team put in for him.
Abakoumov and Lalouette get 8th and 9th, making this an excellent day for Petronas, while Ghyllebert gets 10th and Zirbel deserves so much more than the 15th he ended up getting
