@Ollfardh: Yes, it's a huge shame for him. If he had limited losses in the ITT he could have done something, but it's too much now.
@baia: Well summarized, the time is now!

We didn't get anyone in the break today unfortunately. Sterobo is the main name once again.


The break grows by one later on though, as Korsaeth also joins.


With 11kms to go, the last escapee, Jensen, is reeled in.


Our chances of a good result fade though! Björn crashes at high speed and takes Kristian with him!


4 sprint trains are created in front.


Van Hummel leads out Markus perfectly.


At the finish

Markus wins! 2nd Geschke, 3rd Roelandts. At a 17th place Djaja is our best rider.

baia wrote:
The rest have to protect Susanto and Holt as the only ones within the 20" seconds gap... damn crash..

@baia: What sutty says
@sutty: He did. Luckily our main guy for the GC still has a chance.

@Ollfardh: Yup. I'm quite pleased with the quicksim.
@sutty: Thanks!
@baia: A nice ITT indeed. They should be able to hang on to that in the last stage.

After yesterday's fiasco and with today's bad weather we decided not so send anyone into the break and fully focus on both the mass sprint and tomorrow's queen stage.


The rain causes another crash today. Sterobo is the main victim and, just like Ludvigsson yesterday, he has to abandon.


With 9kms to go the last escapees are reeled in.


With 3kms to go Vacansoleil has put a strong sprint train in front.


Under the banner Van Hummel has launched Markus, who seems to go for his second victory in a row.


At the finish

he wins by a massive gap. Peter is our best today at a 14th place.

@Ollfardh: In the sprints I fear indeed. Hopefully Peter can surprise us in the hills though.
@sutty: That's the spirit!
@baia: That's what I thought.

12 riders are in today's break. Berezkin is the most important name.


Since he gets dropped from the break, 11 riders will fight for the polkadots today.


Berezkin does manage to rejoin though.


On the final hill McLaughlin takes the points. With that he manages to take over the lead, meaning he'll be king of the hills here.


On the same hill the pack splits in a few groups. We lose one of the riders in the main group, but hang on with 5 riders of the 29 in the entire group. Among those dropped are riders like Van der Lijke and Groenewegen.


With 25kms to go the first 2 groups rejoin.


With 11kms to go the break is caught.


With 5kms to go Teunissen attacks. 5 riders are in the pursuit, including �sgeirr for us.


Teunissen gets caught under the banner though.


At the finish

Havik wins. This confirms his overall victory. Johnnie comes in 8th.

6 riders make it in the break. Kozontchuk and Hansen seem the strongest riders on paper.


At the final intermediate sprint a split occurs in the break. Only Kozontchuk and Jarsto remain in front.


At the final categorized hill Kozontchuk has dropped Jarsto and takes the points. Due to his earlier points in the stage he takes the polkadots.


In the downhill we decide to make some pace. Since Kristian is excellent down the hill, some people get in trouble.


On the next hill Belkov gets away!


At the top though his team mate Kozontchuk still has 50 seconds lead.


With 10kms to go 5 riders have a big lead. Kozontchuk has been reached by Belkov, Geschke, Hansen and Steensen.


At the foot of the final hill Kozontchuk is dropped.


A bit to the back Peter has driven away from the pack!


Under the banner Hansen and Geschke start sprinting!


At the finish

Hansen wins! Geschke comes 2nd, 3rd is Belkov, Steensen comes 4th with a small margin to Peter, who comes 5th! Geschke takes over the GC.