First important stage of the tour with 6 categorised climbs and an uphill finish. On paper Gesink, Ricco and Sinkewitz are the big favourites but all the other GC riders could also do something.
On the first categorised climb the breakaway was split into 3 groups. Gautier was alone in the first group and took the win at the summit
Dowsett and Aulas took the other spots on the podium there. Vaugrenard, Popov and Hulsmans also were in that group
On the third group of the breakaway we have only one rider: Visconti, but the gaps aren't big
And on the donwhill Visconti joined the chasing group
Gautier was caught a few metres before the first intermediate sprint but he still managed to win it. Vaugrenard and Aulas took the other points and bonification seconds
On the second categorised climb of the day Visconti seemed the only one interested in the KoM points and attacked to win
He was followed at the summit by Gautier and Vaugrenard
On the downhill obviously Visconti didn't continue and he was brought back in the group
White Bear and Rabobank are leading the pack so Ricco and Gesink are really interested in today's stage
No problems for Visconti to win the third climb of the day
Again he was followed by Gautier and Vaugrenard
Rabobank and White Bear are doing a great job chasing the breakaway and with 60km to go the escapes have only 2 minutes advantage
The second intermediate sprint was won by Visconti who was followed by Gautier and Vaugrenard
On the fourth climb the escapes already started to crack. The first one who lost the contact was Aulas
Few moments later the same happened with Hulsmans and Dowsett
Visconti won his third climb of the day followed by Gautier and Popov
On the downhill Hulsmans managed to get back in the front group. Not the same happened with Aulas and Dowsett
And they were caught by the pack. But for the escapes the good news is that in the last 30km they lost only 30 seconds
As the front group reached the fifth climb of the day, Popov made an attack
Visconti was the first one to come after him
But the others aren't far away either
Popov was first at the summit
He was followed by Gautier and Visconti, who left the others behind. With the points won here over Visconti, Gautier is the virtual polka dot jersey
On the donwhill Visconti and Gautier caught Popov but the pack isn't far away, only a few seconds behind them as Vaugrenard and Hulsmans were already caught
And with 15 kilometres left the last 3 escapes were caught
With less than 10 kilometres to go we have a massive group in front: 78 riders in the pack. Everything is going to be decided on the final climb
And the first attacke was made by Sinkewitz with 3 kilometres to go
Cataldo and Ricco were right after him
Gesink and Carlos Sastre are also coming
The sprint starts with 1.5 km left. Sinkewitz is leadin the 5 men group, with a small between them and the pack
But the best sprinter there is Ricco and inside the last kilometre he takes the lead from Sinkewitz
Gesink is also there and he might have a chance to take the win today even though Ricco looks really strong
Cataldo and Sastre seem to have lost the fight for the stage win. They are now just trying not to lose time
And Ricco takes the stage for White Bear. Deserved win as his team was chasing the breakaway the whole day
Very close finish between Gesink and Sinkewitz for the second spot but Gesink got it in the end.
Cataldo took the fourth place in front of Lopez Garcia, who attacked from the pack in the last kilometre, and Carlos Sastre. They finished 16 seconds behind Ricco
Pluchkin lead the pack, 30 seconds behind Ricco, Gesink and Sinkewitz, 14 behind Cataldo, Lopez and Sastre.
Chavanel came in a gruppetto losing more than 7 and a half minutes so no chance for him to keep the yellow jersey
Ricco is the new leader, with the top 10 suffering a lot of changes after this first important stage.
