The first climb is quite soon - no time to get away for breaks - Reihs takes it, ahead of Diggle and Barrio
Attacks went away soon after that - and we have a solo leader. In the break for the 3rd day in a row, and 3rd overall after time bonuses gained on Stage 2 - its Simone Ponzi
A 7 man group forms behind Ponzi: Dempster, Perry, Lundberg, Woortman, Reihs, Barrio and Diggle
But Ponzi leads by a minute, and that doesnt seem to be going down
He takes the first 2 intermediate sprints, and also the 2nd KoM - making strides towards the KoM jersey.
Behind him Reihs has gone solo, and cut the gap to 40 seconds, Barrio is at another 30 seconds, with the rest of the break a further 40 seconds behind.
Reihs cannot continue to close the gap though, and Ponzi's lead moves back up to over a minute and a half
With 40km to go, we see the first attacks from the peloton. Sabido, Grabovski, Scheirlinckx and Swift attack, and soon catch Reihs (Barrio and the rest of the break have been caught by now)
Now its Anza, Ginanni, Sulzberger and Longo Borghini
More attacks come from Rast, Freire, Kunitski and Ljungblad as Sulzberger takes the lead, moving past Ponzi as the riders move onto the final categorised climb of the day
Sulzberger takes first at the top, marginally ahead of Ginanni, and then Ljungblad and Anza
Scheirlinckx, Freire, Kunitski, Rast, Ponzi, Swift, Grabovski, Longo Borghini and Sabido are in the next group - then there is Leukemans, Koren and the pack.
More attacks now, including Nocentini - along with Ospina, Rooijackers, Lejman, Fleeman and Casper
Freire punctures from the 2nd group, as Anza, Ginanni, Sulzberger and Ljunblad continue to lead
Leukemans, Longo Borghini, Sabido, Kunitski, Scheirlinckx, Rast, Grabovski, Ponzi and Swift are in the next group, and then Nocentini, Koren, Rooijackers, Casper and Lejman
Theres an intermediate sprint with 15km to go, and Ljungblad takes it
Nocentini's group has caught up with the other chase group to create one large chase group - and Swift now attacks from it - trying to close a 45 second gap
A load of the other chasers follow Swifts lead and they wipe out the gap to the lead group with ease
A couple of riders are able to continue their lead past the group - so now Nocentini has taken the lead
He's pushing hard, and pulls out a 24 second gap on Scheirlinckx - who is also solo - with a further 15 seconds to a group of 15
But more riders are coming across - Hermans, Freire (with a working bike now), Roux and Lewis. They pass Ponzi who has finally been forced to let go after a huge stage, but its ok for Wiggle as not only is Nocentini leading, but Hermans' attack goes past the 15 man group and sees him catch Scheirlinckx
Hermans move was not unnoticed though, it provokes more action from the chase group - led by Kunitski and Rooijackers
The whole field is really spread out now, so time gaps may be unlikely
But Nocentini still leads, holding on to a 25 second lead - but it is now over Kunitski rather than Scheirlinckx
The sprint begins, and Kunitski is caught by Hermans and Scheirlinckx - with Swift and Casper leading the sprint behind them
Up ahead though, there is time for a quick look behind
And celebration - Rinaldo Nocentini wins the stage!
It was going to be close over whether he could get a gap, but with his celebrations, its not going to happen, as Scheirlinckx sprints to 2nd - Hermans 3rd for a Wiggle 1-3.
A tough day for the peloton, but all of the first 78 riders are giving the same time. This allows Gerald Ciolek to keep the race lead.
But Ciolek's lead is down to 0 seconds. On the same time of him thanks solely to intermediate sprints, finishing 75th after a huge effort once again today - its Simone Ponzi! (Who is also the new King of the Mountains)
