Another flat stage. Mountain in the middle shouldn't cause much commotion.

Break of nine got away early, including Wegmann.

And unlike other breaks, the pack let them go. With 50 km to go the gap was at 6 minutes, but shot back up to 9 and it was clear the peloton had no interest in chasing them. With 15 km to go, Barbin and Gusev attacked away.

With 5 km to go however, good work by the rest was bringing them back. Wegmann hung back on the wheels as Jan Barta made a daring move with 4 km to go.

With Barta still 20 seconds up the road and 1.5 km to go, the group struck out for the final dash. Fabian stayed glued on Fabrice Jeandesboz's wheel.

As the Europcar man got a run up the right, Wegmann launched his sprint up the middle, but as Barta was caught under the red kite, Schar had a head start on the rest.

Wegmann was coming with full speed with 200 meters to go, but he was running out of road with Schar ahead.

And Shcar takes it with a bike length over the charging Wegmann! Sad to see my teammate miss out on it so close.

I came home in the pack with no worries, 1:28 behind. No changes in the GC either.

At this point it's just a matter of not slipping up. And if I don't the repeat tile is mine!

Today is the last stage of potential threat. Time to seal Mollema and Kreuzinger out of the race.

A fairly strong morning breakaway got away with a maximum gap of almost 11 minutes.

Mid way through, Schleck attacked with none other than Peter Sagan. Sagan later attacked and Schleck was caught, but the young Slovakian remained in no man's land for a long time.

With the team I made a resolution to simply follow every attack that came. First it was Costa, once he realized I had marked him and Mollema wasn't out of position, he held up, even with the podium on the line.

Next attacker over the top was Kwiatkowski. Even though he posed no thread, I figured better not to miss a move. However, again, we were caught.

Up front two men were in front. Valls was basically leading out Arredondo, and the failure seemed inevitable for him.

And it was, as Arredondo came around to steal the win!

I gave the sprint for home a little go without wasting too much, but Kwiatek easily beat u in the end. No change in GC.

We immediately put the entire team on the front with the stage only just over 100 km to be safe.

Bad idea, as the team became unraveled a few riders attacked. And not the riders I wanted to, with 2 of my biggest competitors flying away. Again, Kreuzinger misses it.

They merged with the group ahead merging with the break,w e struggled to keep it back, having unexpectedly wasted power early on. With 30 km to go it wasn't looking good and 2 and a half minutes. Mollema was in great shape.

We brought it back down to a 1:30 with 155 km to go, putting us in the clear if we kept the pressure. Mollema knew he had to simply go. Luckily the sprinters teams we starting to pace and so was the break after him.

The break caught him with about 1.5 km to go, and we were only 20 seconds behind. Costa immediately sprung past.

Under 1km to go and Mollema was slipping past Kwiatek. We were about to catch them.

Costa wins! He made some bad GC attacks this week, but manages to salvage something from this year's race in the rainbow jersey!

I sprinted to the line till the very last moment and patted myself on the back. Victory was mine!

I end up with the GC win 1:30 over Mollema and 2 over Kreuzinger. Janier was tied to 10th as well, but unfortunately lost in on the count back.

I now have two Catalunya jerseys for my collection. I love this race!

Thanks for watching another incredible race guys! My spring classics season starts in 3 weeks. See you then!

A hilly classic with a side of cobbles. I've never been one for side dishes.

We basically brought our Ardennes lineup here, whether the profile fits it or not. We need the race days, and this is the last opportunity for them. I suppose we are going for Hesjedal here, as he is the best of us to survive the cobbles and hills aren't a problem for a GT winner!

Hard to pick out favorite here with the irregular route, but still a world class lineup.

*** Gilbert, Gallopin, Devolder
** Breschel Hushovd, Stannard, Devenyns
* Bozic, Wynants, Phinney, Kreuzinger, Henao

An unpredictable race with a lot of possible outcomes. Let's find out the right one!

The cobbles will be tricky. Just warming up the legs.

Early break got away fairly late in the race, almost 30 km in on this rainy, dreary, day.

But the real action started mid way through the stage, when a group containing Stannard, Hushovd, and his teammate Gilbert got away.

And then the cobbles hit. And I went straight out the back. It's safe to say that I won't be riding Roubaix any time soon.

More attacks left with 20 km to go, including Matti Breschel, but none gained much of a gap.

In the pack, Talansky, Slagter, and Hesjedal were holding down the fort for us. Unfortunately Navardauskus crashed early on, but he was fine and would later get back.

And when he did get back, he aided Hesjedal as he drove away over the climbs. Luckily he is fairly resistant to rough roads, and pulled a gap on the peloton (albeit without many favorites left).

Up front Hushovd was leading out Gilbert and the group of 4 ahead that also included Iglinsky and Stannard. The 2011 Ardennes Triple winner was in the perfect position with 2 km to go.

On the final climb it was all Gilbert as he accelerated away. As one of the best puncheurs in the peloton tolerant to cobblestones, he was always the favorite with a teammate.

Gilbert takes it! Behind him Stannard manages to outsprint Iglinsky for 2nd.

Hesjedal gave it his best shot, but could only make it up to 12th in the end. Hopefully the Ardennes hold more success for the team.

I cruised home in 49th, in the 2nd major group on the road. No need to panic, the roads are smooth in Amstel, Fleche, and Liege.