Onto Stage 6 then, and into Quebec we go for another hilly circuit.
With a slow few early laps, we can assess the key point on the circuit. The hill in the closing kilometre is certain to be testing, as Kessiakoff looks to hold onto his race lead against further pressure from Cobo. The likes of Larsson and Grabovski cannot be ruled out yet, but will need a notable improvement on their Stage 5 performance.
We eventually get a breakaway: Ghyselinck, Agnoli, Dionne
50km to go, they lead by 3 minutes, Zirbel attacks the group. More important developments a few km later though, a split in the bunch!
Guerao, Allonca, Castroviejo, Serano and Cobo (Santander)
Guldhammer, Te Brake, Veikkanen and Kessiakoff (Telenor)
Ljungblad and Brolin (IKEA)
and remarkably, Boonratanathanakorn (Control)
This is a great move for Santander and Telenor, as their rivals soon realise. Stetina, Raisin, Grabovski, Larsson and Ruijgh find themselves forced to attack their group in order to regain contact with the Top 2 in GC
Theyre not just looking to bridge though, and try to press on past them
Perhaps they shouldnt have though, as Cobo now strikes out. Thats Ljungblad, rather than Larsson, following, plus Kessiakoff and Stetina - as the American's teammate Zirbel comes into view
Cobo, Ljungblad, Kessiakoff and Zirbel briefly hold a gap on the descent, but more attacking behind sees that be wiped out, first by Raisin and Larsson, then by Grabovski and Ruijgh
The attacks continue though, with another group of 9, including Stetina, still fairly close
Larsson is caught napping and in a moment of mutiny, Ljungblad chooses to press on - helping Cobo and Kessiakoff in the process!
Kessiakoff is able to last the longest in attacking - and that sees him ride past our day long breakaway
So here we are, Kessiakoff leads as he tops the climb with just 1 16km lap to go
Cobo, inching away from Ghyselinck, Dionne, Agnoli and Ljungblad, trails at 30 seconds
Its then as follows (all gaps to Kessiakoff):
+1'05 Grabovski
+1'21 Larsson
+1'32 Raisin, Allonca, Veikkanen, Stetina
+1'59 Ruijgh
+2'22 Sagan, Peterson, De Greef
+2'45 Zirbel, Guerao, Guldhammer, Te Brake, Castroviejo, Serrano, Boonratanathanakorn
+3'24 Day, Baumann, Atapuma, Rohregger, Meersman, Capecchi, Florencio
+4'55 21 man group including Colex, Hernandez Gutierrez, and Garate
Cobo must be sleeping over the top though, Kessiakoff increases the gap to 50 seconds, so now its time for a desperate descent to remain in conteintion of this race
After the Ljungblad/Break group we then see a few groups merge together - Raisin, Stetina, Larsson, Grabovski, Veikkanen, Allonca and Ruijgh now altogether
They clearly are lacking in pace though, as soon Peterson and De Greef both catch up aswell. Sagan is also there briefly, but tails off again
We move into the final 7km, and Cobo is making progress! The gap down to just 37 seconds
Grabovski attacks in the 4th group, Larsson counters - but they dont get anywhere as both seem set to wave goodbye to overall GC aspirations - Veikkanen then leads a further countermove
And Veikkanen is able to bridge to the Ljungblad group. Not alone though, but joined by Santander's Allonca, who is surely on the ride of his life
Here you see the situation, with all the first 15 riders in shot. This Gravoski/Larsson group has just under 4km to go, but its now just over 2km to go for Kessiakoff - lead now down to 28 seconds!
Final kilometre for the Swede, 22 seconds...
Cobo is so obviously stronger, and if only he would switch to sprint mode, the stage could well be his. But alas, this is Cyanide gameplay, it does not happen, and Kessiakoff holds on to take a great stage win, and further extend his GC lead!
Ljungblad, having evidently made the decision midway through the stage that supporting Larsson was not worth it, takes an easy 3rd place in the sprint of his 6 man group. The break holding in there for positions 4-6.
Larsson, Grabovski and the rest are given the same time as 5th placed Dionne - 1'46 behind Kessiakoff
Those 2 will remain in 3rd and 4th - but now well out of contention for victory - but Ruijgh, De Greef, Raisin, Stetina and Peterson all look set to move up 2 spots. This is because a lack of effort day from Telenor duo Florencio and Rohregger saw them finish behind control team rider Boonratanathanakorn (who I dont think drank a thing for the last 50 km)! They split from 5th and 6th, to 10th and 11th after a 4 minute loss.
