No things get interesting, it's Stage 3, and gaps may well appear, as we do 3 laps of a 49km circuit which includes a couple of hills and cobbled sections, including the finish
Blythe, Vantomme and Hushovd are favourites, and the sprinters will need all the bonus seconds they can if they want to keep in touch tomorrow
Rapha continue their breakaway stratagy, with Last winning the sprint from companion, Flens
This leaves 2 seconds for the peloton, which Drujon takes comfortably
Renang crosses the gap to the break in an attempt to reclaim the Mountains jersey
Flens manages to beat Renang to the top of the climb, but second place puts Renang provisionaly 1 point off Kiprotich
As the peloton go over the climb they split and again Focus are called to close the gap.
This is managed, however 30 riders are still missing
Hushovd is with Santos 2'30" behind the peloton
Crocket a further minute behind
Then Blythe is 4'20" off the peloton, he has a lot of work to do if he is going to get back
Last is trying to salvage Rapha's race, but a intermediate sprint won't be of much consolation for their boss. Flens is second
Pokerstars have committed 3 men to the front, and are holding the chasers at bay with ease.
Last blocks Renang from coming past him and allows Flens to win the climb, but this just means they are both tied with his team mate, and one of them is sure to wear polkadots tomorrow.
Pokerstars are running rampant and over the top they take 4 of their men clear in a group of 14, Vanspeybrouck, Langeveld, Haussler and Coyot are the only other big names
The next group on the road is 48" back and contains the rest of the Pokerstars riders, recovering nicely at the back, with Albert the only big name.
Another 50 seconds back is the group with Vantomme and Van Locke
Bpost are happy with the splits as they are, and Broers pushes on in the front 13, their lead touching a minute
Focus have managed to get Drujon back to the third bunch and have Gaudin trying to pull it all back together, but 2 minutes is a large gap to shut
The break crosses the finish line with 50km and one lap to go
3'37" later Broers leads through the first chase group, which contains:
Geslin, Vermote, Engoulvent and Mohs (Pokerstars)
Broers, Stallert and Vanspeybrouck (Bpost)
Kamyshev and Langeveld (Koppert)
Bernucci and Visconti (UniCredit)
Coyot and Haussler (Trilux)
Meersman (Puma)
The two other chasing bunches come through almost together 5'10" behind the break
Last wins the days final sprint, Flens is second
Gaudin is on the front of the chase bunch, and with confusion between Bpost and Pokerstars the gap is down below 90 seconds
However Gaudin is the only chasers with any legs left, and as soon as he pulls off the gap jumps to 2 minutes
As the climbing starts for the last time, Vermote has to let go
27km to go and the break are caught. Maybe Last has done enough to keep the Polkadots in Rapha hands
The cobbles start, will anyone have a go with 23km left to race.
Not content with working on the front Broers attacks to win the climb, Coyot and Meersman are next
6 riders go clear over the climb: Coyot, Broers, Meersman, Visconti, Langeveld and Bernucci. Surely Pokerstars can pull them back
The gap is fully 50 seconds though
Broers drops back to help Vanspeybrouck, and pulls Meersman back with him.
Vanspeybrouck ends up pulling it together, will they push on or let the Gaudin lead peloton close the gap (now 2'23"
The problem is Gaudin keeps dropping Drujon, going back, pulling him back to the bunch, then pulling the gap down to 90 seconds, then dropping Drujon and starting all over again. Here he is going back to the front
With 16km to go Flens is the last of the breakaway rider to be dropped from the front bunch
and Haussler attacks, and gets a decent gap immediately
Langeveld manages to pull him back
10km to go and Broers is back on the front, he has really done amazing work today, although the peloton have the gap down to 2 minutes
5km to go and Mohs is on Hausslers wheel, and there are no other sprinters in the group. This should be his easiest win of the three
No one wants to start the sprint and with 1500m to go they are still riding
The sprint starts, can Mohs find a gap?
Does he have the legs? Trilux lead, but Mohs can't even keep in Hausslers slipstream. Vanspeybrouck is even trying to come past him
And it's a cobbled Trilux 1-2, Haussler from Coyot, with Vanspeybrouck pipping Mohs for 3rd
50 seconds later the group behind comes through, they are still in the race after the leaders hesitated
The riders are scattered along the road, and here is Blythe coming through 12 minutes down, does today mark the end of the Rapha juggernaut?
