It decided the race last year through a breakaway - will a break win today or will the big hilly riders come out and do battle?
Martins and Biondo attacked early on
But Biondo soon dropped him on the climb and that is how things were set up early on. Biondo lead over the climbs solo, with a never increasing lead over Martins
Behind Martins was a group of 3 riders who attacked on the first categorized climb. Van Ooijen of IrnBru along with Magenta B's Tang and Ramos Gamez.
Skipping forward to 63km to go, Biondo has won all the first 5 climbs, amassing 25 points so far (He will take the KoM jersey) and Martins is also still ahead and has picked up 15 points from 5 second places. Biondo's lead was once over 11 minutes but has dropped since then as Zenmind chased. The chase caught the group of 3 that was also ahead while the peleton has been dramatically thinned down.
Maxime Bouet launches an attack!
He is countered by a few others including Gianni Meersman, but they get no gap. However, it increased the tempo of the group which was enough for race leader Richeze to finally be dropped
The pace is kept up over the categorized climb, Biondo still ahead take the full points but Martins has been caught so Landaluze and Berthou pick up the rest of the points, just by being at the front. In the descent the group splits with 10 stronger riders breaking away
Hagen, Rovny (B&O), Grychenko (IrnBru), Vandenbroeck, De Greef, Landaluze (Molteni), Vitoria, Berthou (Pearl Jam), Mori (Sony Ericsson B), Bertagnolli (Wiggle)
It soon becomes clear that these 10 riders will decide this race and more than likely take up the top 10 spots in the GC. They catch Biondo with 38km to go
Biondo goes straight out the back and his teammate Vitoria can also no longer keep up with the pace. With 32km to go, the group of now 9 riders splits - Bertagnolli, Hagen and Vandenbroeck are clear!
Onto the steep categorized climb and Bertagnolli is then dropped by the other 2
Hagen leads Vandenbroeck over the line with 22.5km (Or 1 lap) to go - its looking promising for them, the 2 strongest riders in the race
But Hagen seems stronger and his sustained pressure finally pays off on the final ascent of the categorized climb as he breaks clear of Vandenbroeck
Over the top and down the descent to victory!
Vandenbroeck is not out of the race yet, he takes 2nd trailing in 27 seconds later
A further 30 seconds back is Leonardo Bertagnolli
Landaluze outsprints Berthou and Grychenko for 4th, 2'10 down on Hagen
Ivan Rovny wins the sprint for 7th at 2'43 down, ahead of Mori and De Greef with Vitoria taking 10th at 3'12
The best of the riders who missed the 10 man group is Magenta B's Andreas Schillenger +4'53
Just over 6 minutes after Hagen, Bouet takes 12th in a group with teammate Keinath and Banos Ballester. These 3 riders had an easy ride after the group of 10 went away as they did not have to relay with teammates in there, their saved strength allowed them to get clear and make a little gap near the finish.
The next group was led in by last years race winner Gianni Meersman
