After an easy stage, it's time for ... another easy stage. This is dead-flat, just like Denmark, from the start to the end. Perfect for the sprinters who will definitely need some points if they don't want Cunego to win the Point Classification.
A nice group of riders managed to get away and establish the first breakaway of the day: Veikkanen, Perget, Mazur, Hulsmans, Coyot, Arekejev, Mandri, Geslin and Ulissi. Renshaw also tried to go with them, but he attacked too late and ended up between the peloton and E1.
After that, nothing happened. The gap just kept on growing, and with 65 km to go it seemed very clear that the peloton was not going to anything at all today. Two of Ferrari's riders punctured, and they managed to get contact with the peloton again very, very fast -- a clear indication of the speed of the peloton.
Anyway, at this point, the gap is 14 minutes to the E1 and 12 minutes to Renshaw.
Just 30 km later, this gap has now increased 20 minutes to E1.
The only action worth mentioning at this point was when Arekejev realized he had to do something if he wanted to win today. He attacked from the front group and was followed by Veikkanen, who wouldn't stand a chance in a sprint. However, despite getting a small gap they were quickly caught again. And soon after, Veikkanen was paying for his try and was now desperately trying to hang on to the group.
Hulsmans, who stood with good chances of winning if it came to a sprint, ended up in a bad position when the sprint was about to start. He became the lead out man for the rest, but with his tempo he did managed to split the group into two. Here he is at the start of the sprint:
But also he had to pay for his efforts. Instead, it's Geslin vs. Coyot for the win, and Geslin wins that one easily. In fact, Hulsmans even manages to regain some strength and takes 2nd in front of Coyot.
And that was all .. or was it? For some unknown reason, chaos suddenly occurs in the peloton when there's a mass crash. Down is Cunego, Carrara, Ricco and many, many others. No time loss is registered, but as said before, it's all a matter of how they are feeling tomorrow. Cavendish is a good example of what can happen to you
