This is the one we have been waiting for. Can Blythe get the gap he needs? Will any of the other cobbles specialists spring to life? The bookies don't thinks so. Blythe, Vaitkus and Mohs are favourites.
Van Immerseel and De Bie form our brake today.
De Bie gets the 6 points
While Thwaites gets the 2. I'm surprised Cyclevox are working. One would think that having a break clear would suit them.
Van Immerseel gets sprint two uncontested.
2 minutes later Knees rolls through in third.
Rapha are going to utilise the fact that they dominated the TTT. Teklit attacks from 6th overall with 50km to go.
He quickly joins the break 90 seconds ahead of the bunch.
with 30km to go the gap is at 2 minutes. Cyclevox now up the pace to try and shut the break down.
As we hit the cobbles with 21km left Cyclevox has the gap down to 1 minute. De Bie decides to attack the break.
Teklit follows though.
Cyclevox have complete control of the peloton as they start on the cobbles.
De Bie can't handle the pace and drops off the break.
In the peloton, Nolf and Ingels are keeping the pace slow, I guess to help Mohs. Vaitkus and Blythe are well placed.
Nolf soon moves to the front though. He is 1'51" down so would need something spectacular here. Mohs is a long way back, so Nolf can't be working for him.
Teklit now tries to go solo.
Nolf pulls back De Bie, and Teklit is in sight as well.
11km to go, and Nolf pulls everything back together. The peloton now contains all 54 riders.
9km to go and the peloton finally splits. Alberts is one of the people who misses out, he clearly just doesn't want to be here.
Bad news for Pokerstars, Nolf has led the whole cobbled section, and now Mohs punctures. Nolf immediately drops off the front.
4km to go, Puma and Cyclevox are now on the front.
Pokerstars got the bunch back together, but Mohs won't contest this sprint.
Crocket, Van Loocke and Blythe pull clear of the rest of the bunch, Crocket attempting to follow Minard, who accidentally rode clear.
Maes and Stannard start the early sprint, while the favourites wait.
Maes is in the lead as Crocket finally makes his move. Vaitkus is nowhere today, so he could seriously close the gap.
As I say that Vaitkus storms into view, Blythe also looks quick.
It looks to be Blythe vs Van Loocke.
This time Van Loocke has just enough to take victory and secure 4th overall.
Blythe and Crocket both beat Vaitkus, and so Crocket goes into the last stage knowing a win will give him the overall victory.
Thire and Minard are next, making it a good day for Puma.
The big looser on the cobbles is Uugunbayer who, having won bonus second after bonus second to sneak into 9th, drops way down loosing several minutes.
Crocket is now just 7 seconds behind Vaitkus, a win with Vaitkus only second will give him overall victory. Blythe may not have torn it up today, but with Rapha keeping 5 in the top ten, a slow race might have been a smarter race.
