Quite a long rest day, wasn`t it? Hopefully the riders still have some form left. At least they should be rested by now.
Todays stage can end in a lot of ways. It`s flat enough to five sprinters a chance to get their 2nd sprint finish. But it`s also a bit hilly with the last hill not far from the finish. So maybe some puncheurs will try to get some time on the others.
And obviously on a stage like this with so many KoM points to collect some riders will try to win from a breakaway.
Speaking against last point is the lack of big time gaps.
To remember ´Lars Boom is still the race leader after his win in the opening prologue, while Ciolek wears the sprinter jersey for him after he won the 2nd stage.
The group isn`t really formed yet. But we already reach the only intermediate. Van Der Sande takes it ahead of Kwiatowski and Silva.
High pace in the first racing hour. All attempts of forming a group have been destroyed.
But now it`s looking promising. In the first climb a group of 14 is found. Tankink Mourato, Cunha Dumoulin Bodnar Santaromita Jungels, Pineau Van der Sande, Borrajo Kwiatowski Freire Coutts La Lavandier
Bodnar as 10th with just 12s to Boom is the best placed in there but all 14 are less than 1min to the lead so quite interesting that such a huge group was allowed after chasing the groups for so long.
First KoM is reached and we surely will see a new KoM leader after the stage. Santaromita as best climber takes it ahead of Dumoulin and Bodnar.
Back in the peloton mainly 3 teams do the pace. Rothaus for Boom, Trilux for Wegmann/Kessler and Tinkoff. But still the gap becomes higher and we reached already the 5min mark with 120km to go.
The second KoM was easily won by Pineau. Kwiatowski takes 2nd with Bodnar again in 3rd.
100km and more than 7min gap. Time for Volkswagen and Bianchi to help with the pace.
3rd KoM and again another winner. Tankink ahead of Coutts. Only consistency is Bodnar in 3rd.
5 German teams in this race with Puma, Rothaus, VW, Bianchi and Trilux. 4 of them share the working part now. Only Puma has a guy in the break with Dumoulin and can relax in the peloton. And it`s not even looking that bad for the break. 77km to go and still 6'53.
Finally someone winning for the second time. Tankink takes the maximum points. Followed by Kwiatowski and Freire. So no points for Bodnar for the first time.
With 60km to go you see that the hills aren`t that easy. The group splits with Schwaab, Dekkers, Baumann and Westra being on the wrong side.
But it was just for a few kilometers. Then it`s all together again.
Kwiatowski with the win on the next KoM ahead of Van der Sande and again Bodnar. A pretty close fight for the jersey and still not decided.
53km and Borrajo can`t follow. As only real sprinter he tried another tactic today but the pace in the breakaway was just fast for him.
The peloton is working as hard as possible but not really coming any closer. Several teams are involved but the breakaway is really strong today and working well together. Still 5'30 advance.
It`s already solid puncheurs like Ruijgh, Schwaab and Rast doing the pace.
Santaromita takes the 2nd last KoM ahead of Bodnar and Van der Sande.
40km -> 3'45
Huge split in the peloton and we haven`t even reached the hardest climb yet. Behind 2nd overall Flens, Dupont, Dekkers, Vantomme and Guillen. So surely not a day for the sprinters after the high pace.
Finally Bodnar wins a KoM. He was most consistent today and collected 16points. Cunha and Kwiatowski follow next. Last one also has 16 points but is ranked 2nd. So the two riders from Pologne will share the lead tomorrow.
30km and again a split. A bit windy plus more important here the hills. One victim is surprisingly Ratiy, who obviously was sent the get some water. Also Bonnet, Ciolek, Müller, Borrajo, Sabatini, Mazur and Drujon in there. So even the last sprinters fall back now.
23km left and still 3'08. Now it`s looking pretty good for them.
Tankink and Cunja attack with 15km to go. They know they don`t have a chance against the stronger sprinters.
But they are caught again with 7,5km to go on the last hill.
3,5km to go and still more than 2min advance. Sure we will see one of these winning now. Cunha and Tankink now in a bad position leading the group. Just behind Bodnar, Freire, Van der Sande and Pineau in the best position.
2,3km and Cunha starts the sprint. His teammate Mourato maybe a bit far behind. They could have made this preparation better.
Tankink is totally exhausted. He can`t follow the Portuguese. So the experienced Freire sees that he needs to go early. The just mentioned Mourato obviously found a good wheel now just behind him.
And he even overtakes the Spaniard. Will this really be a 1-2 for Cerne?
But here Pineau is coming fast on the other side. And he is really fast closing the gap to Cunja.
Not far later he reaches him and takes the lead.
Nice win for him here. Mourato takes 2nd ahead of Van Der Sande. Freire only takes 4th although being the best sprinter here.
Due to the gap to the peloton we have a new race leader. Bodnar was best placed before and still in the lead after all time bonuses were given. Dumoulin and Pineau both follow 9s later.
In the peloton Wegmann sprints and opens a gap. Will he even gain time today?
Easily he wins the sprint against Minard but the peloton is too close and so the whole group is counted 2'18 behind Pineau today. Quite disappointing for some of them as it will be hard to overtake all of them.
