Kavsek Berkhout and Mangel are favourites today as we are in Poland for one of the coolest races of the year, with it's mountainous cobbled finishing climb. Expect chaos in the finale, although the steep previous hill should give long range attackers a decent shot as well.
The day has dawned pefect, with no wind or clouds as the riders get underway.
Up the days first climb an 8 man break forms: Krizek, Delise, Kupeshov, Zampieri, Cardoso Espanola, Restrepo, Morandi and Kloden. Interesting how so many mountain climbers have gone in the break, I wonder how they will find the final cobbled climb?
As we crest the first hill Kupeshov has been dropped by the break, the pace is being kept high on this 117km route
He manages to get back on the decent though
On climb 2, 3 more riders go clear of the peloton, Vrecer, Korten and Dugardein. They are a minute off the leaders, where Kupeshov is again struggling and 90 seconds in front of the main bunch
With 60km to go we now have 11 men up front, with the peloton just over 3 minutes back. We are now on the decent before the long drag to the base of the penultimate hill.
35km to go now and the peloton have been keeping the gap at aroung the 3 minute mark as the real climbs aproach. However we now have a split, with 50 riders missing out, Duclos-Lassalle is probably the biggest name missing.
Up front, the climbing has begun with the gap at 2'33" and 29km to go.
As the road kicks up to 14% 5 riders go clear: Restrepo, Kloden, Cardoso Espanola, Morandi and Zampieri.
The climb allows the dropped half of the peloton to catch back up.
Now the peloton is properly splitting, as Alstom take over, only 34 riders remain
Our 5 leaders go over the top with 21km to go
1'45" later come the remaining breakaway riders, bar Kupeshov who has been dropped and caught by the peloton
The narrow roads are making it difficult for the peloton to get organised and they are now 4 minutes off the leaders over the top. They will need to climb the final hill very quickly to make that up.
Over the top there is a split as 16 riders, including Iriondo, Bucciero, Blot, Simunek and Wellens go clear of the rest
Morandi leads onto the final 12km of climbing with a massive 4 minute on the peloton, this is a very solid group of climbers, so they will have to handle the cobbles appallingly to not win from here.
The peloton regroups at the base of the hill as well.
With 11km to go Kloden makes his bid for glory, can he rescale his former heights?
Under the 10km to go banner and his lead is 25 seconds
Just before the cobbles start Kloden runs into a 21% section of road,
Which allows Cardoso Espanola to pull everyone back to him
The cobbles start with the road still at 16% and Zampieri in real difficulty, will this finish him off?
Nope, he gets back into the wheels fine, Kloden tries to attack again now.
Kloden sits down 500m later having dragged everyone up a seriously tough bit of road.
The first of a few brief gravel sections allows the leaders to take a quick breather
4 minutes down the road and the 5 other breakaway riders have been caught
With 6km left to ride, Zampieri and Morandi have run out of energy, they will have to fight to stay ahead of the peloton now
At 5km to go the road is a massive 18% and Kloden has let a small gap appear, is this it for the ancient German?
And then they were two, Kloden is dropping back, and it's now between Cardoso Espanola and Restrepo
A 21% section sees Restrepo allow a small gap
But as the road flattens to a tame 11% he hangs in there
The gap begins to grow again
But just when it looks like Cardoso has made the winning move he pulls over to let Restrepo take a turn. Kloden appears close but is actually 55 seconds back
The road flattens out before the final kick to the summit and Restrepo seems forced to lead out
Nope Cardoso comes past as they start to sprint with 1500m to go, this will be a long one
Cardoso seems the stronger as he powers clear.
And after an agonisingly long final sprint he takes victory, too tired to even raise his arms.
A minute later Restrepo gets second, with Kloden third
It's a great day for AMEX as Esmaeli comes past first Zampieri and then Marandi to take 4th
Wellens sprints clear for 7th
Bucciero gets 8th ahead of Leukemans and Simunek in another dissapointing day for the peloton, they really shouldn't have let such strong riders get away so easily.
So, Cardoso Espana was clearly the strongest in the break, pulling back Kloden, and then ding most of the work before decimating Restrepo in the Sprint. Esmaeli being the leading rider from the peloton shows that climbers were the best suited to today, and that letting 3 of the top 20 climbers in the division in a break, including one of the top 5, was a bad mistake by whoever was trying to control the race. Cativen pick up yet another second place. They seem to have mastered the art of the breakaway this year, while Het Nieuwsblad are anonymous but still manage a top ten.
