A very boring looking stage and was made even more boring by the fact that the next stage is a beast with a lot of climbs and mountain-top finish. Anyway onto today's action...there was none. So a very short report it will be.
The favourites are the same as every other sprint stage there has been so far, Ciolek, Napolitano and Eisel, with a lot of riders there, or thereabouts.
Krauss (Germany), Rossi (Switzerland) and Scanlon (Carrefour) made up the break of the day. They gained a maximum of 10'31 with 120kms to go.
Rossi took the first intermideate sprint ahead of Scanlon and Krauss. The 2nd and 3rd sprints were won by Scanlon ahead of Rossi and Krauss.
The break were reeled in with 28kms to go, so as predicted a bunch sprint will decide it.
Bonsergent is leading out Bozic for AG2R. Bozic has Ventoso, Forero, Siedler, Clerc, Ciolek, Napolitano and Haedo making use of his train. On the far side we have Veelers leading out Astarloa and Eisel. Napolitano, Haedo, Eisel and Ciolek look too far back to have an impact in the finish.
After a perfect lead-out Bozic is ahead and flying. Ventoso is still in his wheel, and Bonsergent is hangin onto 3rd place. Forero, Siedler and Clerc seem to be fighting to claim a podium and the favourites for today are still way back. Ventoso still has a chance to take victory though, can he do it?
No, Ventoso claims 2nd whilst Bozic takes a well deserved victory and a great leadout by Bonsergent earns him a nice 5th place and Forero sprints into a podium finish. Ciolek and Napolitano started too far back and I have no idea what happened to Eisel. The GC, points and KOM competitions stay the same ahead of tomorrow's big stage.
Stage Results
| 1 | Borut Bozic | AG2R PRÉVOYANCE - RENAULT | 4h21'07 |
| 2 | Francisco Ventoso | ACCUMALUX | s.t. |
| 3 | Juan Pablo Forero | TELEFONICA | s.t. |
| 4 | Aurélien Clerc | CYCLING24 - HONDA | s.t. |
| 5 | Stéphane Bonsergent | AG2R PRÉVOYANCE - RENAULT | s.t. |
| 6 | Sebastian Siedler | FED-EX | s.t. |
| 7 | Tom Veelers | LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT | s.t. |
| 8 | Gerald Ciolek | MAGENTA TREFOIL | s.t. |
| 9 | Danilo Napolitano | TEAM FLOGAS | s.t. |
| 10 | Igor Astarloa | FED-EX | s.t. |
| 11 | Juan José Haedo | FERRARI - GUERCIOTTI | s.t. |
| 12 | Matteo Carrara | FERRARI - GUERCIOTTI | s.t. |
| 13 | Robert Wagner | DEUTSCHLAND | s.t. |
| 14 | Fabio Sabatini | CYCLING24 - HONDA | s.t. |
| 15 | Marcel Barth | ACCUMALUX | s.t. |
| 16 | Felix Odebrecht | DEUTSCHLAND | s.t. |
| 17 | Luciano Pagliarini | CYCLING24 - HONDA | s.t. |
| 18 | André Schulze | DEUTSCHLAND | s.t. |
| 19 | Bernhard Eisel | CARLSBERG | s.t. |
| 20 | Martin Pedersen | FERRARI - GUERCIOTTI | s.t. |
