A short hilly one to begin with, three tougher looking stages later on in this race but still the favourites for this stage are the three big favourites for the overall.
Frank Schleck Jan Bakelants
and Edvald Boasson Hagen
are listed as three the most of the press fancy for the race and indeed for today. Is it tough enough to break things down though, if not look out for the three Italians: Simone Ponzi Diego Ulissi
and Sergio Ghisalberti
and the other big hilly riders here Aleksandr Efimkin Philippe Gilbert David López Garcia Robin van der Hugenhaben Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver Jonathan Bellis
and Maurice Schreurs
It's hardly the best of weather to greet the riders on the opening European ProTour race of the season.
But these guys are professionals and we quickly get an attacking start with 15 riders jumping clear.
Geert Steurs, Niki Østergaard Gediminas Bagdonas, Francisco Jose Terciado Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez Tony Gallopin Tesfar Teklit Welle Jallays Jacob Fiedler Pieter Mertens Daniel Allonca Jakob Fuglsang Dimitri Champion Juan-Antonio Flecha
and Danny Pate
would test the mettle of the peloton but as we have seen so often the first move is not the right move with Wiggle and Vesuvio not happy to let this 15 man move clear.
In the second wave of attacks we get Richie Porte
taking the 1st Intermediate sprint ahead of Antonio Colom Mas
and Tony Gallopin
These three form a new more acceptable 13 man breakaway, their 10 companions are: Francisco José Terciado Sam Bennett Sébastien Rosseler Tesfar Teklit David Loosli Michael Reihs Jakob Fuglsang Gian Piero Signorini Aleksandr Mironov Danny Pate
Some fairly useful climbers in there, notably Fuglsang and Colom who would be favoured for not only the King of the Mountains points but also a stage win perhaps if the break is allowed some leeway.
There are three KoM primes on the course all offer 5 points to the winner, 3 points for second and 1 point for third and we have seven riders interested in the battle for the points.
It's Sébastien Rosseler Antonio Colom Mas Jakob Fuglsang
who take the top three over the first prime in that order ahead of Michael Reihs Tesfar Teklit Francisco José Terciado
and Richie Porte
This climbing section between 80 and 55km to go is key you sense to the breakaways chances, mindful of allowing too much fun and games for the break it is Frank Schleck's Vesuvio team who are keeping the breaks gap between four and five minutes.
It is Matea Kvasina and Drasutis Stundzia who are doing the work here and they find both Team B&O and Pearl Adidas willing to commit a rider or two to help out occasionally.
The second climb see's none of the first climb point scorers getting anything this time it is the Eritean Tesfar Teklit
who launches a nice little move.
Francisco José Terciado
follows him to take second ahead of
Richie Porte
After the second climb we get a fair amount of flat, with the weather still inclement teams are not in a great rush to pull this 13 man break back. The gap slowly comes down to 3.30 with 35km to go and 3.07 with 25km to go. As we arrive at the foot of the penultimate hill and the last King of the Mountains the break have 2.40 on the pack.
However the favourites see this finish as a chance and young Jan Bakelants
launches a big move at the foot of the short climb.
He is followed by Danny Summerhill
not someone mentioned in any of the pre-race talks but a solid punchy rider more known for cobblestoned stuff could be handy here.
Keen not to miss out on any move at all home favourite Simone Ponzi
launches a strong counter move.
Up front in the break having gained 3 points from the second climb Francisco José Terciado
attacks past Teklit.
However a rider who gained 1 point on the first climb Jakob Fuglsang
attacks past near the top.
He drags Teklit past Terciado with Porte going into the third position over the top.
An excellent performance by Rapha Condors 24 year old one wonders whether Spyker, who of course have Eritea's other big cycling name Teklehaimanot on their books did some kind of deal here. Though another possible explantion is that Fuglsang is going for a stage win of his own.
Behind Bakelandts having dropped Summerhill from his wheel has a decent gap over Ponzi as the favourites go over the top.
Aware that this is a dangerous move but not wishing to expend too much early energy Frank Schleck
follows a little dig by Philippe Gilbert
keeping the gaps ahead to under 45 seconds.
The subsequent flat and downhill see's Bakelandts and Ponzi reeled back into the now reduced peleton. The break up front having dropped down to 11 riders with Bennett and Mironov falling back.
The attacks have drastically reduced the lead and the lead eleven only have about a minute left with that last climb to come. The big effect of that last climb though was that there are only 43 riders left in the peloton with all the top sprinters from the race dropped.
As we approach the last hill there is a little bit of looking round in the 43 man main group of favourites. Aleksandr Efimkin
takes the bull by the horns.
It proves a little premature as gets a gap of 20 seconds of so only to be immiediately reeled in when the gradient rises and Bakelandts attacks once again.
Having shown his strength on the penultimate climb the Belgian is closely marked here by Ponzi, Gilbert, Froome, Schleck, Summerhill, Posthuma and Ulissi. But Bakelandts really powered up the climb reeling in the break quickly only to be hauled back in too striking distance by Franck Schleck.
Having done this though Schleck either burnt out or chose to drift back a bit as we entered the final 2 kilometres. Jacob Fuglsang moves up to Bakelandts to play closer attention as the rest start to fan across the road.
So the order of the riders here: Jan Bakelants Jakob Fuglsang
then the four rider left to right: Simone Ponzi Danny Summerhill Chris Froome Aleksandr Efimkin
followed by Philippe Gilbert Maurice Schreurs
and Jonathan Bellis Robin van der Hugenhaben
then Joost Posthuma Frank Schleck
then Johnny Hoogerland Diego Ulissi
and Maciej Paterski
We have Spyker and Rapha Condor in a position to do a bit of a lead out and it is the latter team that do a reasonable job with Froome pulling Bakelandts in.
Schleck looks like he hhas a few bodies in the way of him here with Ponzi, Summerhill and Gilbert looking well placed. But following Froome smartly under the kite Bellis launches a rather unsporting left hand move which puts those three on the back foot.
Scrolling further back a question may be where is Hagen, well he is at least in the front group but very poorly placed for this sprint so no bonuses for the Norwegian today.
Bellis then eases past his team mate Froome having blocked Ponzi completely, trouble is Gilbert has wriggled into a gap and is going faster than the Brits.
Schleck finds a fading Bakelandts in his way, as Ponzi finally finds room to try and get past Bellis who has no power left.
He cannot make a move on Gilbert however who managed to find a gap and went full gas at the right time. He takes the win for Pendletons and the first leaders jersey.
A lot of late fast moves here in the final 200m, with Ponzi comfortable getting second and Ulissi coming from pretty much nowhere to nab third place and eight bonus seconds. Bellis disappointingly perhaps fading to 4th with Frank Schleck launching and unbelievable late move to take 5th.
36 men end up finishing together on this stage a mixture of top favourites and breakaway survivors. Porte, Colom and Gallopin surviving with their bonus from the early sprint to leave them high on GC. Vastaranta, Kreuzinger and Ljungbald finish in a small group 1.22 back with Grillo/Van Heerden some 3.22 back ahead of a big bunch at 4.54.
Four teams finished with at least three riders in the front group giving them a jump on everyone else in the team comp.
