Plenty of early attacks today


Bak, De Gendt, Silvestre, Coletta, Van Winden, Rodriguez Parra, Chtioui, Kuschynski, Schuenemann, Aulas, Gazvoda and Meier all involved - but the chase is on already


The pack stretches, and splits!


35 are gone. 11th overall Bradley Wiggins, 19th overall Lang, 21st overall Kreuziger, 23rd overall Bret and 30th overall Bagdonas amongst others.

The break is caught before the first intermediate sprint. No sprinters go for it, dissapointingly. De Gendt from Bouet and Clesen


The pace drops, and despite seeming to have given up the dropped 35 make their way back into the peloton


Bouet goes from relaying to attacking, along with Duque, Kneisky and Walker - Hagen attacking slightly later, and a minute behind them


Hagen catches up with them, but the peloton are soon chasing again, Vesuvio lead the way


An extremely long single file line emerges. Wiggins and sprinter Baden Cooke being 2 right at the back of it.


But despite the length of it, at no point does a split seem at all possible, riders glued to the person infront of them.

Duque takes Sprint 2 from Kneisky and Bouet


20km to go, break leads by 1'30, and William Ford is on the attack again. Before he reaches the break though, they have started attacking each other


Walker is soon dropped, and while the other 4 continue to attack each other, its no use, the peloton are on a mission, and soon catch them


5km to go and Stauff hits the front with Schinker and Swift following. Pokerstars' train is also forming


Avelino takes Swift, but remembering Stage 1, everyone else follows Mohs. The order is Guerao, Bewley, M Rowe, Goss, Richeze, Castaneda, Roelandts, Vanderbiest, Van Stayen and Vanoverschelde


At the front its a German head to head, Stauff vs Kluge


Unsurprisingly, Kluge is strongest, but as Stauff fades away, Schinker immediately launches his sprint


And in a further surprise, Degenkolb cannot match Schinker's acceleration, and Swift proceeds to launch early himself, 1.8km to go


He soars away, Avelino tucked in. A big gap emerges, and as all other sprinters make their moves, theyll wish they decided to copy Avelino and take Swift's wheel!


Goss, Richeze and Mohs lead the chase, but its a perfect position here for Avelino


But Avelino is unable to pass Swift, and amazingly, Ben Swift wins the stage! He went early and still held on to it


Avelino 2nd and Roelandts grabs 3rd in a tight finish. The video below shows how fast Bewley was, but he launched too late, and so 4th for him - consistent again, but again out of the time bonuses. Mohs beats Goss for 5th, then its Richeze and Guerao


The only notable split today was 6 riders losing 15 minutes as a result of being dropped collecting water bottles.

Swift's GC lead now becomes very strong. 21 seconds with two stages to go. Avelino is now up to 12th, while Carmeuse lack of TTT skills means Roelandts can only climb to 58th.

1	Ben Swift	Vesuvio-Accumalux	3h16'03
2	Óscar Avelino	Webeffect	s.t.
3	Jurgen Roelandts	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
4	Sam Bewley	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
5	Erik Mohs	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
6	Matthew Goss	Wikipedia	s.t.
7	Maximiliano Richeze	UBS - La Pierre	s.t.
8	Óscar Guerao	Santander	s.t.
9	Romain Vanderbiest	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
10	Jaime Alberto Castañeda	Café de Colombia	s.t.
11	Matt Rowe	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	s.t.
12	Michael Van Stayen	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
13	Ivano Lo Cicero	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
14	Kobe Vanoverschelde	Team B&O	s.t.
15	Dan Holloway	Festina - Conec	s.t.
16	Danilo Kupfernagel	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
17	Nico Schinker	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
18	John Degenkolb	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
19	David Vitoria	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
20	Alessandro Ballan	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
21	Roger Kluge	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
22	Daniele Ratto	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	s.t.
23	Jerome Coppel	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
24	Steven Kruijswijk	Team B&O	s.t.
25	Jérôme Baugnies	Webeffect	s.t.
26	Francisco Javier Echarri	Santander	s.t.
27	Adrian Laidler	Oz Cycling Project	s.t.
28	Jakub Danacik	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
29	Koen De Kort	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
30	Sébastien Rosseler	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
31	Marcel Kittel	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
32	Andreas Stauff	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
33	Dominique Cornu	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
34	Sten Stenersen	Team B&O	s.t.
35	Jesse Sergent	Warner Brothers	s.t.
36	Morten Reckweg	Team B&O	s.t.
37	David Zabriskie	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.
38	Michael Faerk Christensen	Team B&O	s.t.
39	Leonardo Duque	Café de Colombia	s.t.
40	David Boucher	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
41	Morgan Kneisky	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
42	Benoît Vaugrenard	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
43	William Ford	Oz Cycling Project	s.t.
44	Marcel Barth	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
45	Tyler Farrar	Wikipedia	s.t.
46	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team B&O	s.t.
47	Matthieu Ladagnous	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.
48	Steven Caethoven	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
49	Thomas De Gendt	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
50	Julien Vermote	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
51	Leigh Howard	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
52	Drasutis Stundzia	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
53	Maxime Bouet	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
54	Ramunas Navardauskas	Festina - Conec	s.t.
55	Kevin Van Impe	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
56	Ricki Nelson	Webeffect	s.t.
57	George Atkins	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
58	Steven Cummings	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.
59	Michael Schär	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
60	Vladimir Bileka	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	s.t.
61	Jack Bobridge	Oz Cycling Project	s.t.
62	David Lelay	UBS - La Pierre	s.t.
63	Michael Ford	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
64	Igor Abakoumov	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
65	Baden Cooke	Oz Cycling Project	s.t.
66	Jacob Fiedler	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
67	Yoann Offredo	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
68	Moosa Said	Team A	s.t.
69	Jacopo Guarnieri	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
70	Hugues Mottin	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
71	Dennis Van Winden	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
72	Luke Rowe	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	s.t.
73	Alex Rasmussen	Team B&O	s.t.
74	Davide Appollonio	Webeffect	s.t.
75	Borut Bozic	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.
76	Rafaâ Chtioui	UBS - La Pierre	s.t.
77	Nick Clesen	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
78	Nadi Hortig	Team A	s.t.
79	Sven Vandousselaere	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
80	Mathieu Heijboer	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
81	Stef Clement	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
82	Juan Abenhamar Gallego Martin	Santander	s.t.
83	Cameron Meyer	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
84	William Walker	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
85	Daniel Allonca	Santander	s.t.
86	Jure Kocjan	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
87	Branislav Samoilev	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
88	Mauro Facci	Warner Brothers	s.t.
89	Aitor Galdos	Santander	s.t.
90	Alexander Kristoff	UBS - La Pierre	s.t.
91	Wouter Weylandt	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
92	Jesus Del Nero	Santander	s.t.
93	Juan-Antonio Flecha	Warner Brothers	s.t.
94	Alexandre Aulas	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
95	Aleksandr Kuschynski	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	s.t.
96	Steven Burke	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	s.t.
97	Danny Pate	Wikipedia	s.t.
98	Michael Rogers	Café de Colombia	s.t.
99	Kevin Peeters	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
100	Russell Hampton	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	s.t.
101	Jan Ghyselinck	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
102	Patrick Gretsch	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
103	Moreno Moser	Wiggle - San Pellegrino	s.t.
104	Freddy Johansson	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
105	Lluis Mas	Webeffect	s.t.
106	Christian Meier	Wikipedia	s.t.
107	Tim Kennaugh	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.
108	Eduardo Gonzalo	Santander	s.t.
109	Martin Pedersen	Spyker Cars	s.t.
110	Jackson Rodríguez	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
111	Imanol Erviti	Santander	s.t.
112	Florian Stalder	UBS - La Pierre	s.t.
113	Alexander Wetterhall	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
114	Rubens Bertogliati	UBS - La Pierre	s.t.
115	André Steensen	Team B&O	s.t.
116	Gianluca Coletta	Warner Brothers	s.t.
117	Sébastien Joly	Café de Colombia	s.t.
118	Blel Kadri	Spyker Cars	s.t.
119	Niels Scheunemann	Spyker Cars	s.t.
120	Mark Renshaw	Oz Cycling Project	s.t.
121	William Germán Rodríguez Parra	Café de Colombia	s.t.
122	Kenny De Ketele	Warner Brothers	s.t.
123	Kristof Goddaert	Festina - Conec	s.t.
124	Dominique Rollin	Wikipedia	s.t.
125	King Lok Cheung	Oz Cycling Project	s.t.
126	Lars Ytting Bak	Spyker Cars	s.t.
127	Arthur Vichot	Spyker Cars	s.t.
128	Jesus Tendero	Café de Colombia	s.t.
129	Gregor Gazvoda	Webeffect	s.t.
130	Serge Pauwels	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
131	Joost Posthuma	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
132	Aggrey Sebright	Wikipedia	s.t.
133	Alexandre Geniez	Spyker Cars	s.t.
134	Brent Bookwalter	Wikipedia	s.t.
135	Viktor Renäng	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
136	Kristof Vandewalle	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
137	Thomas Faiers	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.
138	Jason Donald	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
139	Bradley Wiggins	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.
140	Adrian Malori	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
141	Jakob Fuglsang	Spyker Cars	s.t.
142	Fabio Silvestre	Webeffect	s.t.
143	Marvin Van der Pluijm	Warner Brothers	s.t.
144	Yoav Bear	Team A	s.t.
145	Rudi Van Houts	Warner Brothers	s.t.
146	Roman Kreuziger	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
147	Nicolas Edet	Spyker Cars	s.t.
148	Blake Caldwell	Wikipedia	s.t.
149	Dimitri Champion	UBS - La Pierre	s.t.
150	Tomer Bucher	Team A	s.t.
151	Mathieu Bernaudeau	Festina - Conec	s.t.
152	Enrico Franzoi	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
153	Sebastian Lang	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
154	Michael Wolf	Oz Cycling Project	s.t.
155	Dmitri Grabovski	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
156	Daan Rijntjes	Festina - Conec	s.t.
157	Tyler Butterfield	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
158	Ludovic Bret	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
159	Gediminas Bagdonas	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
160	Sébastien Ivars	Café de Colombia	s.t.
161	Tim Dees	Festina - Conec	s.t.
162	Francisco Perez Sanchez	Café de Colombia	s.t.
163	Lasse Bøchman	Festina - Conec	s.t.
164	Olivier Kaisen	Festina - Conec	s.t.
165	Hamad Afif	Team A	s.t.
166	Mark Jamieson	Oz Cycling Project	+ 3'36
167	Tiago Pinto	Warner Brothers	s.t.
168	Tony Gallopin	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	+ 15'12
169	Thomas Bontenackels	Webeffect	s.t.
170	Jose Mendes	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
171	Kévin Lalouette	UBS - La Pierre	s.t.
172	Marc Machado	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
173	David Millar	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.

GC

1	Ben Swift	Vesuvio-Accumalux	9h48'16
2	Jaime Alberto Castañeda	Café de Colombia	+ 21
3	Matthew Goss	Wikipedia	+ 22
4	Nico Schinker	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 29
5	Ivano Lo Cicero	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
6	Andreas Stauff	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
7	Marcel Barth	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
8	Drasutis Stundzia	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
9	Marcel Kittel	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
10	David Zabriskie	Pendleton's Twicer	+ 30
11	Bradley Wiggins	Pendleton's Twicer	s.t.
12	Óscar Avelino	Webeffect	+ 33
13	Michael Ford	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 34
14	Dan Holloway	Festina - Conec	+ 35
15	Erik Mohs	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
16	Nick Clesen	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
17	Sébastien Rosseler	Jack Wolfskin	s.t.
18	Sam Bewley	Milka - Vittel	+ 38
19	Alessandro Ballan	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
20	Sebastian Lang	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
21	Adrian Malori	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
22	Roman Kreuziger	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
23	Joost Posthuma	Jack Wolfskin	+ 39
24	Ludovic Bret	Milka - Vittel	s.t.
25	Mathieu Bernaudeau	Festina - Conec	+ 40
26	Michael Van Stayen	Bacardi - Ignis	+ 41
27	David Vitoria	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
28	Jacob Fiedler	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
29	Patrick Gretsch	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
30	Michael Schär	Nestlé Cycling Team	s.t.
31	Gediminas Bagdonas	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
32	Dmitri Grabovski	Bacardi - Ignis	s.t.
33	Hugues Mottin	Nestlé Cycling Team	+ 42
34	Danny Pate	Wikipedia	s.t.
35	Danilo Kupfernagel	Nestlé Cycling Team	+ 43

Points

1	Ben Swift	Vesuvio-Accumalux	52
2	Óscar Avelino	Webeffect	45
3	Sam Bewley	Milka - Vittel	40
4	Matthew Goss	Wikipedia	38
5	Erik Mohs	Pokerstars.com	38
6	Jurgen Roelandts	Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom	30
7	Jaime Alberto Castañeda	Café de Colombia	27
8	Ivano Lo Cicero	Nestlé Cycling Team	25
9	John Degenkolb	Pokerstars.com	19
10	Maximiliano Richeze	UBS - La Pierre	17

Youth

1	Ben Swift	Vesuvio-Accumalux	9h48'16 (1)
2	Nico Schinker	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 29 (2)
3	Ivano Lo Cicero	Nestlé Cycling Team	+ 29 (3)
4	Andreas Stauff	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 29 (4)
5	Marcel Kittel	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 29 (5)

Team

1	Vesuvio-Accumalux	29h05'27 (1)
2	Milka - Vittel	+ 9 (2)
3	Nestlé Cycling Team	+ 12 (3)
4	Bacardi - Ignis	+ 13 (4)
5	Wikipedia	+ 13 (5)