Theres a fairly early intermediate sprint, and with no initial attacks, the build up to it begins - but up a fairly steep hill. Good news then for Wiggle, who have Diggle leading out Bertagnolli
Diggle, Bertagnolli, Kopp, Eichler, Gaywood, Lloyd, Bole and Sabatini are all towards the front, ahead of 7 others who had hoped to contend the sprint, but couldnt match the pace of the front riders on the climb, namely, Van Loocke, Forster, Gajek, Dviri, Race leader Richeze, Awang and Bagdonas.
With a descent following the hill, into the sprint, it favours those sprinting at the front, and Bertagnolli duly takes the sprint, with Kopp 2nd, and Diggle 3rd
As usual, those who go for the sprint start to sit up. Although Dviri is hoping to keep going, and tucked in his wheel are the Wiggle duo. The first climb is very close to the sprint, and the Israeli takes the points from Diggle and Bertagnolli
Now usually we see the pack quickly catch up again on the slowing up riders from the sprint, but the opposite is happening. They may not be pressing on particularly, but the gap to the peloton is increasing. We have Bole, Kopp, Eichler, Gaywood, Lloyd and Sabatini in a group just behind the front 3.
As you can see, the pack just doesnt care
But up front, there is hardly a scene of unity. Of the 9 in the 2 front groups, it only really seems to be Dviri that is up for it
As we reach the top of the 2nd KoM though, Dviri takes a drink, and this momentarily lapse sees Diggle sneak past and take 1st ahead of him
This puts Dviri and Diggle equal on 8 points, with 1 climb to go, the winner of that could take the 5 necessary point to take the lead in the competition. But Diggle has decided enough is enough, and sits up
He will drop back to the peloton, and from the group behind (who trail by about 40 seconds), Kopp and Gaywood are doing the same
So its now Dviri and Bertagnolli up front. Dviri doing the relaying, Bertagnolli tucked in
With 60km to go, our first attack! Bol and Degenkolb attack from the peloton, but only last about 8km
We approach the 2nd intermediate sprint. and Dviri deservedly holds off Bertagnolli this time
The final climb is near, it is the major goal for Dviri, but as it comes into view - Bole has made his way up to the front group. For the 2nd time in 2 days, a Petronas rider has made the junction from the chasing breakaway group to the front group
But Dviri need not worry, Bole stays at the back, and with Bertagnolli apparantely clued to his wheel, the KoM jersey will go to Dviri
With 16km to go, the peloton closing in, Dviri has finally had enough - he attacks!
He gets a small gap, with Bertagnolli and Bole still uninterested, but we have a final intermediate sprint, and to Dviri's dismay, he sees Bertagnolli and Bole come charging past, with the points going to the Italian
Dviri is caught with 10km to go, the other 2 at 8km to go, and to a bunch sprint we head. Diggle has returned to the front of affairs, while Kennaugh is well placed behind Gaywood
But the surge comes from IKEA, with Sagan and Flugel edging to the front
Its all gone wrong for Kennaugh. He moved past Gaywood, with plenty of space in front of him, but seems unable to make progress. He sees any hopes slip away, while nearby him in the points jersey, Bellis wont be repeating a Top 10 again today
Jean-Patrick Nazon now takes the lead for Bacardi
But with a kilometre to go, the move comes from Haedo
Giaux tried to follow, but was blown off the wheel
And JJ Haedo wins the stage! Giaux is 2nd, Wesley Sulzberger 3rd and Marco Guillen takes 4th for Pokerstars' first ranking points
Haedo's win is the 2nd Mercedes-Benz win out of 3 this season, and also the 2nd Argentinian win out of 3 this season. Haedo also becomes the new race leader. Teammate Weiss takes 11th, and is celebrating along with Haedo, while tucked in behind him in 13th is Bertagnolli - able to gain 3 points at the finish, to go with 16 from his work earlier in the day, the Italian has taken over the Points classification, and moved up to 4th overall.
The star of the day though was Dor Dviri, but unfortunately for him, he will not benefit GC wise from his intermediate sprint bonus seconds as he could not quite hold on to the peloton, despite support from Haimy and Margalit.
