Bellis, Roche and Di Maggio are the favourites here for 3 laps round the course, will anyone get away on the final climb, or will it all come back together, all is about to be revealed.
Sunny and Dry, this race will be well supported.
7 riders go clear early on: Martynenko, Beatse, Clarke, Landa, Thomson, Murgoitio and Alfonso.
5 more riders join soon after: Hardy, Khatuntsev, Zepunkte, Berhane and Aru. Aru and Berhane are just watching though, with Rapha and Venchi both working to pull this break back.
Pirelli help out too, and it's all together again
As we hit the 20% section for the first time, 8 are back clear: Thomson, Berhane, Hardy, Alfonso, Murgoitio, Zepunkte, Khatuntsev and Clarke. THis leaves CSC to do the chasing, one is not sure why.
Pineau attacks to crross the gap. Costa better be feeling good today.
And half way up the climb Pineau joins the break, witht the peloton 2 minutes back
The break cross the finish line with the gap at 2'30". Only the final 500m are flat, so leading out the sprint may actually be a good strategy.
Rothaus has now joined CSC in the controlling job. Unless they are planning to cross the gap on the next climb this seems a very odd strategy.
110km to go, and on the small hill Mandri tries an attack.
Over the top and he's gained 2 minutes on the bunch, the break are now 90 seconds ahead
And after an excellent 15km solo effort, Mandri has joined the lead group.
Venchi are unhapppy with the idea of doing the chasing because Pirelli and Rapha have a man up front, so Sagan attacks with 95km to go.
Rast follows
Now Pires tries his luck, with Rothaus just ignoring all the drama and tapping out a steady rhythm
The three have joinned up 90 seconds in front of the bunch, but thats a big gap they still have to close (2'30".
Mandri leads onto the climb, the chasers are 2 minutes back, with the bunch at 4'30"
As the peloton hit the climb Pirelli send Kinney forwards to control the gap, now at 5'30"
The road slackens to 8%, but Clarke and Zepunkte seem to have cracked
Now Khatuntsev can't keep up
Mandri is powering up the climb, and only Thomson and Afonso are still with him
1'10" behind, the three chasers are picking through the dropped riders
Pineau drags the front 7 back together again, although surely this climb has proven to Rapha and Pirelli that they can't back their breakaway riders.
And Pirelli and Rapha are now at the front of the bunch, the gap is at 6'30" though.
The pace isn't slow in the bunch, as 26 riders drop off the back
Mandri manages to power the front 3 clear again, the 3 chasers have joined up with the next 4 breakaway riders at the top of the hill.
With Berhane no longer in the lead group, Rapha start to chase in earnest
As we begin the decent the two group have joinned up and 10 men are together at the front
Through the line they go, just 60km left to race, and they have a decent shot of staying away f they just work together
53 seconds later comes Khatuntsev, trying hard to get back on terms.
at 2'24" it's Clarke a Zepunkte
Pirelli and Rapha re flying here though, they took a minute back on the decent and are now 5'10" off the lead.
With 50km to go the break seems to have found a decent rhythm, although they have still lost time, now being just 4'32" ahead.
As we hit the small climb, Rapha send Appleby to the front to do some damage to the gap, standing at 4'09" with 45km for the break to ride.
The climb does account for Clarke and Zepunkte who are reeled back into the peloton. 3'38" with 42km to ride means it hurt the lead group as well.
Over the top the bunch go, with the break just visible in the distance, the gap is 3'49" with 40km to ride Zepunkte interupted the chase slightly while he was caught, hoping to give Rast any advantage he can.
Our last segment of flat racing begins with the break having 35km to ride, and a 3'31" lead. If they work well together this will be very tight
Pirelli and Rapha are hammering the pace along now, Khatuntsev is pulled back now. The gap is down to 2'40" and the break still have 27km left
26km to go for the bunch and Roy tries to get the jump on the better climbers, Wegmann and Di Maggio follow him, thus ruinning his plan. THe gap is 2'28" with 25km left for the break
Roy is pulled back, while the other two push on.
Sagan is not waiting for his leader though, as he leads the break onto the climb for 1 last time. The 20% wall is waitting.
Wegmann and Di Maggio have shut the gap down to just 1'22" when they start the climb
45 seconds later, here comes the bunch
The gaps are staying fairly constant in time, but the distances have shrunk to nothing
20km to go and Costa attacks, Froome and the Bellis follow
Now Roche, Dowsett and Hermans attack
Up front, Sagan, Rast, Mandri and Pires have dropped their companions
Who Di Maggio is just blowing past
Costa is trying to close the gap to Di Maggio, Bellis and Froome are just behind him.
As Costa gets a small gap, Dowsett also joins this chase group, making it 4 Rapha riders. Roy and Roche are the other two late atteckers here, with Hermans still close
Di Maggio joins the front group, but all is not well at Venchi, because Sagan immediately attacks.
Sagan doesn't get anywhere, while Froome attacks past Costa. Rast seems to be struggling up ahead
Bellis joins them all to make a front 8
Roche, Wegmann, Roy and Dowsett are chasing
The breakaway riders are being made to do all the work, while Froome, Bellis, Di Maggio and Costa rest at the back of the group. It doesn't really seem fair
It also allows Roche, Wegmann and Roy into the lead.
Onto the flat and now Dowsett joins the leaders. It seems everyone is so happy to be in this group, they are not going to waste energy once in it.
On the final small increase before the descent Roy tries an attack
Costa follows.
Now Bellis
Wegmann tries to shut the gap
Di Maggio now leads the chase, can they close the gap?
With 6.5km to go the gap is still 20 seconds, I don't think it will come back
Sagan is forced to chase by himself meaning it's him against Costa who is leading out the front group, Bellis looks in the perfect spot.
Roy and Bellis make their move
Bellis is about to win another sprint.
And he does, Roy is second, with Costa third.
Roche wins the sprint for 4th, ahead of Wegmann, Pires, Di Maggio and Froome are next.
Rast just pips Hermans for 9th.
So, Bellis makes it a successful trip to the Isle of Man for Rapha, while CSC and Focus will also be pleased.
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