Rain welcomed the riders as they started Ardennes week. After a lot of trying, three riders went away in the day's break. Sky, Movistar and Orica led the chase, with Quickstep occasionally joining in. There was a bug crash in the pack with Barguil involved but they did recover. Valverde, Rosa, Gerrans, Van Avermaet and others were involved in an even bigger crash a little later on. Nico Denz had to retire as a result, but the others made it back to the pack.

Cunego, Lammertink and Elmiger were the next victims of crashes, as the rain made conditions treacherous. Alaphilippe, Verona, Matthews and Barbero went down too but there was no lasting damage. Movistar, Sky and now Bahrain led the chase of the break. Teuns was dropped from the led group with 19 km to go. Albasisni attacked with 14 km to go and was quickly joined by Valverde, Alaphilippe, Gilbert, Sergio Henao and Gerrans. Debesay was dropped from the break in the meantime and caught.

Valverde, Gilbert and Albasini went away from the others with 9 km to go and with the break 35 seconds further ahead. Gerrans caught up and they four riders caught the break with 6 km to go. They dropped the breakaway duo with 4 km left. Valverde led them over the Cauberg with a minute's gap to the 23 man chase group. The front four slowed down before the kilometer banner, but it wasn't enough for the chasers to catch them. Gerrans sped away as he started the sprint early, but Valverde paced it perfectly, catching and passing Gerrans just before the line to clinch the win. Gilbert easily outsprinted Albasini for 3rd. Orica with two in the top 4!

No luck for our neo-pros as they suffered on a truly horrible day in the Ardennes. Garin, Garcia Cerravalos and Thorson were all involved in crashes at different points in the race. Everyone finished though.

Rain followed the peloton from the Netherlands Belgium. Albasisni, Mollema and Agnoli suffered a crash early on. Movistar, Sky, Quickstep, Orica and Trek were the teams setting the pace in the pack. Betancur, Rui Costa and Van Avermaet too suffered crashes. Eiking had to retire because of one!

Vuillermoz, Teuns and Valgren were the first of the bigger names to be dropped with nearly 50 km to go. The peloton was 120 riders strong with 30 km left. The size gradually reduced as they approached the finish. Two riders from the break were caught with 12 km to go by the 45 rider peloton. The break was caught in its entirety with 6 km to go and Movistar laying down a fast pace at the front. Five riders, Valverde, Moreno, Gilbert, Alaphilippe and Brambilla, representing just two teams, attacked with 2 km to go. Moreno was dropped with 1.5 km to go, and Brambilla was dropped 500 meters later. The chase group closed in on the leading trio but couldn't catch them before the line. Alaphilippe was the strongest in the sprint, winning ahead of Valverde and teammate Gilbert.

Garin and De Groot had to retire because of crashes. Barbosa, Clark and Alunderis also suffered crashes in the rain. 8 of the nine finishers were in the bottom 15 of the classification, with only Al-Amin finishing some positions ahead.

Quickstep, Sky, AG2R and Movistar chased the break as they built up a gap of more than 11 minutes. The early crash took down Mohoric but he was able to continue. A later crash had Bardet adn Luis Leon Sanchez go down, and Gogl retire as a result. Latour, Konig and Talansky were also involved in minor crashes. The break started breaking up with under 50 km to go. 12 riders went away from the pack with 30 km to go, with four more chasing them. The 16 came together 2 km later. Three roders from the break was caught while more riders caught up to the earlier attackers to make a 44 rider group behind the remaining breakaway. Ion Izagirre, Rui Costa, Gallopin, Wellens, Gesink, Haas, Konig, Slagter, Roland, Talansky and Vakoc were not in this group however!

Another from the break was caught with 10 km to go by the now 28 rider peloton. Movistar and Astana led the chase and finally caught the break with 6 km to go. Rui Costa and Few others caught up again with the group now swelling to 38 riders. The size reduced to 21 2 km later. Rui Costa, Uran,. Ulissi and Teuns were dropped soon after. Dumoulin was dropped with 1 km to go. Valverde won the sprint, ahead of a late charging Sergio Henao, who beat his teammate Kwiatkowski at the line.

A day in the break for Al-Amin and he was among the better finishers of our neo-pro group. Garcia Cerravalos was involved in a crash early on but it wasn't serious. Garin took the honour of being the highest finisher while Thorson took the Lanterne Rouge this time!

A surprising podium! While Morabito and Castroviejo were among the favourites for this stage, with Morabito likely only expected to challenge for the Top 10, Barta definitely overperformed to get onto the podium. Kelderman and Zakarin with the best times among the GC favourites.

40 seconds off the pace is best that any of the neo-pros could achieve on this stage. None of them really like the ITT.

The seven man break were left to their devices for most of the race. Aguirre was dropped just before the second intermediate sprint. The break was caught with 15 km left. Orica and Aqua Blue controlled the front of the pack in the lead-out. Impey went on to win ahead of Fenn and Ulissi.

A day of rest in the peloton for our neo-pros with the good news being that all of them finished in the pack. Nettle with a third place on today's only KOM sprint picks up one ranking points.

Canondale and FDJ did the early chasing behind the six man break. Plucinski was dropped ont he second climb and caught by the pack soon after. Lunke was dropped and caught with 70 km to go. Only Roosen and Reyes were left in the break on the fourth climb. FDJ, UAE and Orica led the chase now. Craddock attacked with 48 km to go, joined the break a couple of kilometers later, and dropped them too. The break were caught before the next climb. Craddock was caught with 26 km to go.

GC leader Morabito was dropped with 16 km left. Rui Costa, Zakarin and Intxausti attacked on the final climb, 1-5 km from the summit. A. Yates too would get a gap to the pack. The attackers were not caught before the finish, with Costa winning the sprint ahead of Intxausti and Zakarin. Intxausti is the new GC leader.

Nettle helped with the chasing in the middle stages and ended up in the Top 100. Otherwise, a stage of survival for our neo-pros.

The seven man break stayed together till before the second intermediate sprint, when Reyes, Mihaylov and Amezqueta were dropped. Bardet and Kangert attacked from the pack on the final climb. Bardet was caught but son Amador got a gap, followed Ion Izagirre. They caught up to Kangert. They were caught before the summit. Pantano and Jungels were the good climbers to be dropped. The peloton as down to 59 riders on top of the climb as the front group dropped Koren. Three from the break were caught on the descent. Kangert, Bardet and Porte attacked again but could not get away. Bisolti won the stage ahead of Herrada and Hansen. Koren, too, was not caught before the line. A couple of attacks followed in the pack but no one was able to get away.

Huge time gaps for the youngsters on this stage, but that was expected.