A very tough stage, and this will decide the race. The time trial gave Phinney the race lead, but he may be vulnerable here. Trofimov lies at just 29 seconds, LL Sanchez, Di Luca and Gerdemann are around 1'20/1'30 down, with Ponzi and Hagen at around 2 minutes. Those sort of gains are certainly possible. We also have Rogers up there, but damage limitation would be the expected course of action for him.
Plenty of enthusiasm early on, with many attackers - but the pack are keeping a strong pace also.
Schroder, Possoni, Faiers, Frei, Redondo, Mestre, Swift-Metcalfe, Traficante, Cardoso, Van Zandbeek and Brouzes are those involved, and it is Redondo who takes the first KoM.
With a good 120km to go, some interesting attacks from the peloton. Caruso, Koren and Posthuma are shown but Di Maggio, Schreurs and Vastaranta also go.
So. Now would be a pretty bad time to crash wouldnt it? Particularly if you are in the Top 10 overall. Even more so if your name is Linus Gerdemann...
Bennati is also down, while a couple of Philips riders drop back, and look! There's Theo Bos!
Gerdemann's teammate Cohnen then kicks into action and puts in a heroic effort to drag Gerdemann back. Here they are 20km after the crash, the Philips pair have been moving through the stragglers, but Cohnen can only take him so far - and with Gerdemann seeming reluctant to really put in some effort of his own, this is as close as he will get. Come the end of the stage, Gerdemann will finish 20 minutes down, a disastrous stage.
Up front, the break is down to 5. Mestre, Redondo, Possoni, Faiers and Swift-Metcalfe.
Those 6 riders who attacked the pack when Gerdemann crashed were caught but Posthuma and Vastaranta were to attack again - this time alongside Bertagnolli, Amador and Denifl.
And skipping to the big climb of the day. The break is splintering, led my Mestre, Redondo and Possoni - while Amador is powering up behind, Denifl and Bertagnolli being tucked in.
Mestre is soon on his own up front
With Amador also on his own now behind, maintaining a determined chase
Mestre takes the climb. 1 minute later is Amador, with another minute to Denifl, Bertagnolli and Redondo. Burghardt, Zaballa and Zabriskie lead the pack over, 3'20 behind Mestre
But after 30km of mostly descent, Mestre and Amador - while now working together as a duo - are set to be caught, and will the uphill run in beginning, we have attacks
Ponzi lead the way, before Nibali moved past. Hagen, Visconti and Trofimov also there
Once again Ponzi pays for being the first to go, and finds himself behind Nibali, Hagen and Trofimov (Visconti couldnt maintain the pace).
More attacks coming from the pack, not necesarily successful. Ten Dam, Danielson and Ulissi try, but see themselves passed by Kangert, Race leader Phinney, LL Sanchez, Di Luca, Vanendert and even Rogers.
These moves are too late though. Trofimov, Nibali and Hagen will decide the stage.
But Trofimov dominants the sprint, takes a great victory, and retakes the race lead! 2nd for Nibali - and a case of what might have been, had he not crashed.
Ponzi holds on for 4th, but is caught on the line by LL Sanchez, Phinney and Di Luca.
Vanendert, Rogers and Kangert lost a bit of ground in the sprint and so are credited 20 seconds behind Ponzi. 17 seconds later S Sanchez and Nocentini lead in the next group.
This group is crucial for the teams classification battle of Wikipedia vs Wiggle. After Montelupone Wiggle led, with Wikipedia in 6th at close to 4 minutes. The TT turned that on its head, with Wikipedia taking the lead by 16 seconds. Today, Ponzi and Phinney finished together, with Burghardt and Cataldo both finishing alongside Nocentini. But the 3rd Wikipedia rider, Zabriskie, is in a group 22 seconds later. So Wiggle take the teams classifcation lead by 6 seconds.
