It may need end in much of an uphill like yesterday, but the route does look harder today - so hopefully with more chance of causing gaps!
And if we were ever in any doubt that a stage with 4 big climbs would be raced hard, just look at the names of the first riders to attack: Brambilla, Gomez Marchante, Preidler, Scarponi and Siutsou. 5 very strong climbers - plus attacks from Serrano, Gastauer and Aasvold.
Add in Vuillermoz and Kratochvila and that is a quite formidable breakaway of 10. It is also too much for BMC - and Fumeaux single handedly chases it down.
Immediately after they are caugh, Igor Anton attacks. Preidler is there again, and new to attacking are Lopez Garcia and Frank - so that's why Swisscom chased, they want to be in the break.
This doesn't get away either. Reguigui is seen working hard for Rothaus, and that is effort well spent, as when the breakaway finally forms we see that Gomez Marchante is in it. Antón and Brambilla are here too.
They build their lead over the rest of this first Cat 1 climb, before attacking each other for the KoM points at the top. Brambilla 1st from Anton and Gomez Marchante.
There are lots of points available today, but the route does not really favour the Top 3 in the KoM competition: Ben Nasser, Paterski and Caruso are more puncheurs than mountainous climbers.
But the pace has settled in the peloton, and they can contest the first. Paterski takes 8 points, while irt is 6 for Caruso and 4 for Ben Nasser.
Paterski tries to keep clear and build a gap, to allow him to take even more points for 4th on the HC climb. But Caruso plants himself on front of the peloton to chase him down to prevent that.
At the top of that HC climb, it is Antón who crosses first.
Their lead is just over 9 minutes and the peloton are already riding hard again. Reduced to 81, the pace is too high for Paterski/Caruso/Ben Nasser to score this time. Swisscom, Prio and Wikipedia are the ones chasing right now, and Atapuma picks up a few more KoM points from the relay train.
Anton wins the Cat 2 climb, and on the descent down to the big Cat 1 a couple of riders in the peloton encounter problems. Stage winner Boily crashed, and something happened to 22nd overall and 2nd best young rider Scarponi. Not sure if it was a puncture or a crash, but he is a couple of minutes behind the peloton - and chasing hard to make it back.
This Cat 1 climb is 20km long, and looks much steeper than the main climb for yesterday. The breakaway's lead has been cut to just 3 and a half minutes. It was a risk for Anton, Brambilla and Gomez Marchante to attack all day and it may yet backfire, depending on how this climb works out.
Caruso attacks at the bottom.
It's a cue for the action to start early, so thank you Giampaolo. Sella and Cunego are right at the forefront.
Ricco, Pluchkin, Alarcon and Madrazo are next.
30 seconds behind them are Rujano, Martin, Fothen, Van den Broeck, Nibali, Trofimov, Kolesnikov
Another 45 seconds to Siutsou, Caruso, Domborwski, Popovych, Valls and Herrada.
Already a further 1'30 for Bakelants, Costagli, Ponzi, Samwel, Pantano Gomez, Lopez Garcia, Mai and Frank. With the recovering Scarponi still chasing a minute more back.
All these attacks are not good news for the break of 3.
Their lead is down to 40 seconds, with 7km still to climb. Cunego and Sella have been caught by the 4 behind them, with Madrazo currently setting the pace.
It's too much for Ricco! He is dropped.
Gomez Marchante, Anton and Brambilla are caught with still 5km to climb. Ricco is fighting to get back in contact, while moving up quickly behind him is Rujano, who has attacked away from his group.
Gomez Marchante attacks! He is not put off by his company, all the effort he has already put in today. All credit to him after a lacklustre race to date.
Of course, it doesn't last. This group of 8 is opening up a 45 second gap to Ricco and Rujano, and Cunego decides to pick this moment to drop back to the team car for a bottle of water.
Pluchkin attacks!!!
What a moment to pick. Alarcon, Madrazo and Sella all follow but the Maglia Rosa is left behind! So much so that he finds Ricco and Rujano back with him.
The pace is high, and Sella starts to struggle. Madrazo and Pluchkin are really driving now, with Alarcon hanging on in there.
Cunego realises he has to put in an attack here to try to get back.
But it isn't happening. Here we are at the summit and Pluchkin crosses first.
Madrazo is just about there in 2nd, with Alarcon now distanced.
Cunego takes the summit having caught Sella, 1'07 behind Pluchkin.
Rujano, Ricco and Anton come through at 1'42.
Brambilla and Gomez Marchante at 2'20.
Then at 2'40 are Denifl, Nibali, Martin, Van den Broeck, Fothen and Trofimov. The Russian looking like he would have have struggled to keep up had the climb been any longer.
Down we go, and Pluchkin leads the way solo now. He is giving everything to gain on Cunego, and Madrazo can't quite match that pace.
It's a descent so of course Nibali is going strong. He has already dropped his group, and caught Gomez Marchante and Brambilla.
Meanwhile Cunego and Sella have caught Alarcon
Soon Cunego is alone, trying to close down that gap of a minute.
40 seconds behind Alarcon and Sella is the Ricco, Anton and Rujano group. All looking to gain on those behind, and limit losses to those ahead. Nibali is 40 seconds later, with another 40 to the next chasing group.
A bit more uphill for the finish, a 2.5% gradient. Pluchkin enters the final kilometre.
He will of course win the stage - but more crucial is the time he can gain back on Cunego.
Madrazo loses 27 seconds in the end. He is getting better as the race goes on and will move into a podium spot now - but Top 2 seems out of reach.
Then comes Cunego, 58 seconds behind. With bonus seconds, his lead is cut to 1'33.
Alarcon and Sella are at 1'20. Alarcon will move up to 5th overall, while Sella is now 7th.
Slotting into 6th will be Ricco who finishes at 2'03 with Rujano and Anton. Rujano has put himself right back in the Top 10 fight here, while Anton's day in the attack has paid off with a good finish and also 42 KoM points. He is now 4th, 26 points behind Ben Nasser.
Nibali is at 2'45. Using the descent to his advantage, he has made gains on close rivals Martin, Fothen, Denifl and Van den Broeck
They all finish at 3'27. There is still just 27 seconds separating Fothen, Denifl and Van den Broeck for 10th place. (With Rujano just 1 second behind VdB)
Trofimov is in the group too. He lost his podium place today and now has less than 1 minute on 5th placed Alarcon. Bringing up the fear of the group are Brambilla and Gomez Marchante. They might have hoped for a stage win by going in the break, but actually, it has still worked out well. They've picked up some KoM points, and finished in the highest group they would otherwise have been able to reach.
The gaps open up behind. Dombrowski may be losing GC places but his U25 lead is stronger than ever, after Scarponi's bad luck today. Pendleton's Team lead is also strong, up to 14 minutes from Santander, who have moved into 2nd.
Just as with yesterday though, a number of riders have missed the time cut. Keukeleire Lavery, Cherel, Ghyselinck Maaskant, Terpstra Coutinho, Balloni Leezer Villella, Krieger Viviani, Colbrelli Stallaert Hussein Kamyshev Merino Criado, Hofland Durbridge
In especially with teams only starting with 8 riders, these losses are a blow to many teams. Rothaus have just 3 riders left, a number of others are down at 4. Pokerstars have lost firepower ahead of tomorrow's most Degenkolb friendly stage, and also important is that Lotto have lost 3 of their key domestiques - another blow for Cunego today.
The big sprinters group of Degenkolb, Impey and Roelandts were the final group inside the time limit. They survive to sprint another day unlike the likes of Merino Criado.
