Quite a strong break was allowed to get away, mostly consisting of climbers and punchers, maybe indicating the teams were expecting the race to come down to a bunch sprint. The break's lead was more than seven minutes as they crested the Turchino. Navardauskas crashed on the descent but it wasn't a serious one. BMC were the main team leading the chase, perhaps with a goal of a late Van Avermaet attack to catch out the sprinters.

As the break reached the Capo Mele, their lead was down to 2'49" with just over 60 km to go. Kuroeda was dropped from the break with 35 km left, and picked up by the peloton 3 km later. The break still held a two minutes' lead as the started climbing the Cipressa. Silvestre and Puccio were dropped from the break on this climb. They were caught on the descent by the pack. The break's lead was down to just 80 seconds. Riders were now being dropped off the back at regular intervals.

Quickstep had joined BMC in leading he chase. However, with 15 km to go, they were being usurped by Katusha and FDJ in pace-making duties. The break was caught with 9 km to go by a 104 rider strong peloton.

The pack split with 6 km to go, on the Poggio in fact, with 50 riders dropped! There were a couple of attacks on the incline but neither survived. Sagan, Degenkolb and Van Avermaet got a small gap on the descent but they were caught with 4 km to go. The peloton swelled back to 94 riders at this point. Kristoff took up the pacing duties, not sure why, and soon enough tired himself out, thereby ruining his chances of a good result! Cavendish and Van Asbroeck led the pack uner the Flamme Rouge but soon it was Gaviria in the lead, with Sagan, Van Avermaet, Degenkolb, Ewan and Coquard the next best placed. The pack was down to just 37 riders. Degenkolb slingshot into the lead with 700 meters to go, with Coquard, Gaviria and Sagan closest to him. With 400 meters left, only Degenkolb and Coquard remained in the battle for the win, as the rest tired out.

Degenkolb proved too tired for a plucky Coquard, whose 2nd place finish is still a very good result for CCC. Bouhanni made up a lot of ground in the final 500 meters to grab 3rd place.

despite some of our neo-pros looking to make a mark here, none of them had a race to remember, but all of them did finish. Van Aarle and Al-Amin survived the longest in the pace-faced chase, and were dropped with just more than 15 km to go. They started struggling from the triple climbs and it the last 40 km proved too hard for all of them.

A lot of KOM points were at stake but surprisingly just five riders formed the break of the day. Behind them, in the pack, there were a couple of crashes which caused a split, with a lot of the top sprinters in the latter group. Anacona had to retire because of it and Konig's involvement in it saw him struggling to hang on to the front group.

The gap to Konig kept increasing as the pack reached the final climb. They caught the break on the climb, and managed to drop Latour and Reichenbach, who were also involved in the earlier crashes.

There was another big crash on the descent with Geniez and Berhane a couple of the riders involved. Bevin retired as a result of the crash. Katusha and Nippo led the peloton through the final kilometers but UAE formed the only train and led out Blythe. The latter took the early lead in the sprint. It looked like he had it but he collapsed inside the final meters to allow De Gendt to swoop by and take the win on the line! Tiralongo finished 3rd, as the GC contenders too got involved. The sprinters looked to have been worn out by the five climbs on the stage.

A great day for two of our neo-pros. Virginius Alunderis finished the day 2nd in the U25 standings and 5th in the GC courtesy picking up a bonus second in the intermediate sprint. He is also 5th in the KOM standings. Elias Abdessabour becomes the first neo-pro rider to wear any jersey, as he ends the stage as the leader of the KOM classification.

The others lost between and 3 and 9 minutes on the day, being caught in the multiple crashes and pack splits.

Rain greeted the riders on this stage as another five man break went away. There wasn't any KOM points to play for, just a couple of intermediate sprints. There was an early crash in the pack involving Roche, De Gendt, Timmer, Kiriyenka and Spilak. Fortunately, there wasn't any lasting effect. The fast paced peloton started dropping riders with 20 km to go. The break were caught with 9 km left. Sky and Bahrain were the teams who formed their trains. With 1.5 km to go., it was Bozic with the early lead in the sprint, ahead of Van Poppel. The latter faded in the final kilometer while Bozic held his lead. In the final meters, Nizzolo breezed past the tiring Bahrain rider to steal a win on the line. De Gendt finished third.

Abdessabour kept his lead in the KOM classification but Alunderis could not hang on to the front group on this stage and loses his high GC position. He remains 5th in the KOM standings. It turned out to be quite a difficult stage for our neo-pros.

The break split on the first climb itself with Zardini, Warbasse, Herklotz and King remaining in the front group. A crash in the pack led to the retirement of Meyer. All of the front group of the break were then riding seperately on the second climb. On the descent, King never made it back. One from the break was caught with 6.5 km to go. Another were caught a kilometer later by the 71 rider peloton. All of the break were caught with 4 km to go, as Reichenbach couldn't keep up with the pack any more. Sky were at the front for Landa. Latour and De La Cruz were dropped with 3 km left, and then GC leader De Gendt! Landa, Thomas and Van Garderen attacked with 2 km left. The chase group had 18 riders, with Soler and Brambilla furtehr back. Kruijswijk was dropped from the chase group with 1500 meters to go. With 500 meters to go, it was the same three at the front, with only Mollema, A. Yates and Barguil in the chase group. Thomas didn't have the legs to contest the sprint to the line, which Landa won, with Van Garderen in 2nd. Thomas came in 3rd. The chase group caught up enough to get the same time.

Abdessabour dropped to 6th in the KOM standings, while Alunderis's day out in the break didn't prove fruitful. Abdessabour and Christiansen were involved in the crash which resulted in Meyer's retirement. All in all, not a day to remember more most of our neo-pros, although Nettle and Garin did get close to breaking into the top 100.

By the second KOM intermediate point, the break already had 15 minutes on the pack. Zardini was comfortably the leader on the road, having been down around eight minutes to Landa before this stage.

In the break, Samoilau and Keizer were dropped on the fourth climb. At the end of that climb, the break's lead was still over 10 minutes. Schachmann was dropped from the break in the final climb. The peloton caught two from the break, with a higher pace dropping riders from the back of the pack, without anyone able to get away from the front. Sky, Trek, Bahrain and UAE were at the front. Spilak attacked with 6.5 km to go, and was followed by a group of 16; Soler, Latour, Konig, De La Cruz and Reichenbach in a group further behind. Spilak's move didn't last as more riders were dropped from the pack and Schachmann was caught.

Zardini won from the break with Grmay and Bustao making up the podium. A group of 10 riders finished in the next group. Kruijswijk, M.A. Lopez, Meintjes and Brambilla were dropped from the second group before the finish.

Not a lot to speak about for the neo-pros, except that they all survived the stage and live to fight another day.

The eight man break built up a sizeable lead which was reduced to 3 minutes at the second intermediate sprint. Bahrain, Trek and Sky led the chase in the pack. Brown attacked with 3.5 km to go, with Muhlberger and Piedra chasing. Only Brown was able to get away and took the win. King and Muhlberger were next across the line.

Another tough stage for our neo-pros as they couldn't make a mark.

The eight man break were between 10 and 20 minutes down in the GC. They were 15 minutes ahead of the pack at the second intermediate sprint, making Chernetskiy the virtual race leader. This was still true at the third intermediate sprint point. However, the pack sped up sufficiently following after this. Dupont dropped his breakaway companions on the final climb. He was not caught again and took the win, ahead of Dayer Quintana and Chernetskiy. Ion Izagirre attacked from the pack and gained time.