A particularly strong wind today, with plenty of early attacks. A handful of riders were clear by the first sprint, which Wyss takes from Traficante and Reckweg. At the back came the first indications of a tough day. Meyer and Bileka are dropped, and it takes them a good 10km to catch up again
The full break includes the 3 who scored in the intermediate sprint, plus Champion, Mouris, Schinker and Nooytens
B&O's Tom Veelers has ridden clear of the pack, taking advantage of the wind while relaying with his B&O teammates
With 67km to go, Kolesnikov, Minard, Cornu and Baugnies attack
First Veelers catches the break, and then the 4 latest attackers do
Immediately Baugnies presses on, to keep up the pressure
But Baugnies is then caught out, as Kolesnikov and Wyss move past him and take the lead
More importantly, we have the first split in the peloton. 5 B&O riders: The two Jorgensens, Sagan, Rasmussen and race leader Vanoverschelde, plus the Energie-Diesel pair of Duque and Teruel, have gotten a gap on the rest
Such is the pace of B&O that when Duque tries to attack, he loses ground - and see 5 new arrivals to the group. All Auber riders - Ford, Rolland, Drujon, Morizot and Reus
A glance at the back of the peloton shows just how stretched out all the riders are, you dont want to be at the back here
Up front, Kolesnikov is solo, with Wyss having dropped back to Baugnies. Minard and Cornu are still chasing aswell, not giving up, but the wind makes it difficult
Behind the B&O and Auber group, La Gazzetta have taken up the chase
Theres a split further back in the peloton. 59 in the first group, 80 in the second, but Wikipedia quickly close it
As Kolesnikov takes the 2nd intermediate sprint, the B&O/Auber group catch the stragglers of the breakaway (I say B&O/Auber, but B&O continue to do the bulk of the work). And those riders, who struggle to hold on, then help La Gazzetta to bridge the gap from the peloton
But it is not the whole peloton! As well as the 6 Gazzetta riders, only 13 others kept up with them, and we now have another gap
B&O sit back a bit now, as La Gazzetta seem expected to keep up the pace
This provides an opportunity for more to bridge the gap. A few Vseuvio riders help to do so, as well as a Philips duo that includes Serebriakov. A number of Festina riders here, including Bewley, while Hushovd and Castaneda are also in this group
They seem to have made it across at the right time, as a larger gap is starting to emerge
As Kolesnikov enters the final 20km, it seems a good time to assess the situation
Baugnies is just under a minute down, with Minard at a further 20 seconds.
It is another 20 seconds until Duque and Reckweg, who are set to be caught by the peloton, as Cornu has just been
Just behind them are the 51 man peloton. With the following team/rider combination (Note, not including Duque, Reckweg or the others out front)
Auber
5
B&O
6
Cafe de Colombia
5
Domina Vacanze
1
Energie-Diesel
1
Festina
6
Jack Wolfskin
3
La Gazzetta
7
Lafarge
3
Milka
1
Nespresso
2
Philips
2
Sony Ericsson
3
Starbucks
3
Vesuvio
3
Over a minute later are 43 riders, with Mouris inbetween. Notable sprinters here include Farrar, Meyer, Roelandts and Vanderbiest
Another 90 seconds sees a group of 62, this time with Schinker inbetween. Stage 2 winner Avelino is back in this group, along with Lo Cicero and Corioni
With 15km to go, the peloton has caught both Minard and Baugnies - while off the other end, Wyss and Goddaert have been dropped
Kolesnikov keeps fighting, but with 7km to go, he is caught - after a 60km attack
Champion and Minard are dropped from the group, while Van Winden is pressing on into the final 5km
Vaugrenard, Gretsch, Schreurs, and Teruel are closeby, while it has been left to Rasmussen to lead the sprint train of Vanoverschelde, Bennati, Van Stayen, Serebriakov, Castaneda and Bewley
Teruel is going well now, moving alongside Van Winden, as teammate Duque tries desperately to get on his wheel
And theres a split! The first 13 have a gap on the next 39
Auber hurriedly press forward to close it, as the sprint begins
The Energie pair lead, but do not sprint, while Rasmussen is trying to - but already seems dead
The sprinters need to make their moves. Theyre not only handing the advantage to Energie, but the 69 sprint Gretsch is even going faster than them
Outside the final kilometre, and now the Energie riders are sprinting
The riders appear to have left Rasmussen behind, but it is Van Stayen who is going strong
Teruel leads, but has already stopped sprinting, as Van Stayen passes Duque with Gretsch still up there
Van Stayen moves alongside Teruel, but now seems to be struggling to kick on - and Castaneda has launched himself behind, Bewley was following him but now comes out of his wheel. Rasmussen is not visible in the following screens, but appears to still be trapping Vanoverschelde, Bennati and Serebriakov
The final turn, and so many potential winners here. Bewley and Castaneda seem to be quickest, and Bewley has darted for the inside line, with the Colombian forced out wide, even of Gretsch
Castaneda then tries to go back to the inside of Gretsch, but look at this on the outside, William Ford of Auber is going surprisingly strong!
And now for a bit of an oddity - both Bewley and Van Stayen are suddenly jerked backwards by the game, ending their victory hopes
And surprisingly, William Ford wins the stage! Castaneda sneaks 2nd from Gretsch, ahead of Teruel, Duque, Bewley and Van Stayen.
Rasmussen somehow got himself back infront of Bennati and Serebriakov, despite having been clearly behind thim with a kilometre to go. Nevertheless, he still wrecked the sprints of those 2 plus Vanoverschelde - there seems to be a general PCM sprint bug on being able to pass leadouts on that side of the road.
So after an attritional day in the wind, William Ford somehow manages to beat the sprinters, and the Australian is rewarded with the race lead.
But thats not all for late drama. Behind the front group of 32, a group has split off from the next chase group, and have rapidly closed down what was close to a 2 minute gap in the final 10km. Led into the final km by Weylandt and Roelandts (who incidentally, seem to be another example of the inability of the main sprinter to pass their leadout), the 52nd rider - Juraj Sagan of B&O - is now in sight
And despite his team leader already being in the front group, it is Marinangeli who leads this group over the line and finishes close enough to Sagan to close out any gap, which will increase the front group size from 52 to 73. An odd move by the Italian. GC wise, the big winner is Auber's Coppel. In this group, he is fortunate to save his Top 10 placing overall.
But even so, more than half the field have lost time today.
