Sergei Komkov of Benfica launched Attack number 1 and 9 others followed to form the break, 9 others followed.

Jonas Aen Jorgenson and Matteo Priamo are the best sprinters in the group, and if Priamo wins both intermediate sprints, he will take the Overall Lead.

This doesnt happen though:


Letua and Nippo are leading the chase hard, and with a strong headwins, thats the recipe for a split in the pack.


Aleksei Markov of DFL is caught in the wrong side though and DFL chase hard to prevent the split increasing and it all comes back together.

Upfront its sprint number 2:


The break is inevitably caught and with 3km to go, Agritubel are in control.

Poulhies > Richeze > Priamo > Bongiorno > Casper > Traksel, with Zanotti infront of Van Heeswijk on the other side. Nippo are nowhere to be seen! Well, they are visible but Nazon is about the 16th wheel.

With 1.4km to go, Priamo makes his move.


Poulhies has done his job and with 1km to go everyone is going flat out for the win.


It looks like Richeze v Grillo, although Casper is very close - being behind Bongiorno and not Grillo did not help his cause. With 200 metres to go, Grillo is starting to fade! Casper is the fastest of the 3 but has too much to do.


Richeze pounces and the Argentine takes the victory!!

Click to see a 'Photo Finish' of the top 9!(Distance between the riders is not overly accurate though).

Jason Donald finishes 35th, but teammate Tyler Farrar takes the Gold leaders jersey.

1	Maximiliano Richeze	AGRITUBEL	2h59'32
2	Jimmy Casper	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
3	Paride Grillo	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
4	Aleksei Markov	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
5	Ruben Bongiorno	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
6	Bobbie Traksel	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
7	Marco Zanotti	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
8	Max Van Heeswijk	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
9	Stéphane Poulhiès	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
10	Simone Cadamuro	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
11	Vasilis Anastopoulos	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	s.t.
12	Sébastien Chavanel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
13	Tyler Farrar	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
14	Jean-Patrick Nazon	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
15	Gabriele Balducci	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
16	Stefan Radochla	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
17	Steven Caethoven	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
18	Victor Gomes Colinas	BENFICA	s.t.
19	Jurgen Van Loocke	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
20	René Haselbacher	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
21	Graeme Brown	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
22	Ivan Quaranta	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
23	Simon Clarke	SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS	s.t.
24	Gennadi Mikhailov	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
25	Romain Feillu	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
26	Ed Clancy	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
27	Anthony Lavoine	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
28	Mariusz Wiesiak	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
29	Marco Bos	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
30	Grega Bole	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
31	Kirk O'Bee	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	s.t.
32	Nathan O'Neill	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
33	Henk Vogels	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
34	Gordon McCauley	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
35	Jason Donald	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
36	Erki Pütsep	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
37	Davide Viganò	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
38	Ronald Harvey	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
39	Nico Sijmens	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
40	José Joaquin Rojas Gil	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
41	Joseph Cooper	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
42	Bas Giling	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
43	Jens Mouris	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
44	Danilo Wyss	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
45	Tigran Korkotyan	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
46	Fredrik Johansson	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
47	Yon Bru Pascal	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
48	Pieter Seyfert	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
49	Ben Swift	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
50	Fumiyuki Beppu	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.

1	Tyler Farrar	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	3h06'00
2	Jason Donald	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
3	Timothy Duggan	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
4	Antonio Cruz	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
5	Steven Cozza	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
6	Maximiliano Richeze	AGRITUBEL	+ 2
7	Jimmy Casper	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
8	Matteo Priamo	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
9	Aleksei Markov	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 4
10	Sébastien Chavanel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
11	Romain Feillu	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
12	Nathan O'Neill	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
13	Jens Mouris	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
14	Ben Swift	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
15	Laurent Lefèvre	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
16	Pieter Seyfert	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
17	Salvatore Commesso	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
18	Imanol Erviti	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
19	Maarten Tjallingii	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
20	Hugo Sabido	BARLOWORLD	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Points	General
1	Maximiliano Richeze	AGRITUBEL	30	30
2	Jimmy Casper	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	27	27
3	Paride Grillo	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	25	25
4	Aleksei Markov	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	23	23
5	Ruben Bongiorno	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	21	21
6	Bobbie Traksel	DESIGNA KØKKEN	19	19
7	Marco Zanotti	UNE ORBITEL	17	17
8	Max Van Heeswijk	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	15	15
9	Stéphane Poulhiès	AGRITUBEL	13	13
10	Simone Cadamuro	WIESENHOF - FELT	11	11