All of the 66 riders in this race have survived the difficult opening days as we now leave the mountains behind and concentrate on the sprinters for the next three stages.
Today's parcours is pan flat up to the last 20 km or so, where the road will start to go up for several kilometers. However, apart from one short little ramp, the gradient is very low and the sprinters are unlikely to struggle.
We still haven't really found out who the best sprinter in the race is, as they've only been competing for sprinkles of points at the intermediate sprints so far - which they probably haven't been using max speed for.
The ones we've seen the most of so far are Polivoda and Belletti. Both have snatched some points at various intermediate sprints. Together with Chicchi, they're probably the closest to favourites we can get. The latter hasn't impressed so far, though.
To the GC contenders' delight, there's barely any wind today as Kenya Air and Boeing leads the peloton out from the start.
No attacks today either, and the early breakaways continue being absent.
The peloton therefore gets the chance to contest the first intermediate sprint, and it's Belletti who takes it. The rest of the sprinters can't be bothered, so the remaining points goes to Lutsenko and Anuar Aziz.
Four bonus seconds for Lutsenko too, moving him a little closer to Martinez in the overall.
The scenario is exactly the same as we reach the second sprint. Lutsenko thus moves within 1'16 of Martinez.
Enough of the slow riding for Grmay, and the Ethiopian champ is off at almost exactly 100 km from the finish.
He was surely expecting company, but doesn't get any and punches the handlebars lightly as he turns around and realises it.
He still decides to carry on, and almost instantly builds up a minute's advantage.
The situation takes a turn in Grmay's favour again when Daniel Diaz set off after him around three kilometers later.
Grmay takes the next intermediate sprint, but doesn't really care much and instead focuses on keeping up the rhythm.
Diaz is 50 seconds back, and the peloton another 1'10.
Belletti takes third place and two points, this time unchallenged.
Back to the front, where Diaz is finding it hard to take the final 30 seconds on Grmay, who clearly isn't going to wait!
Privatbank and Boeing are happy to let the duo slip away, and the gap swells up to 4'30 with 60 km left to race.
Ten kilometers later, the situation still hasn't changed at the front! Diaz is stuck at 25 seconds behind Grmay.
Grmay is bothered by this and eventually decides to slow down. 6 km later, Diaz finally closes the gap.
They roll over the day's last intermediate sprint without contesting it. The peloton has meanwhile reduced the gap to no more than 2'15.
Lutsenko and Anuar Aziz tries to challenge Belletti for third place, but they get completely squashed by the Italian who takes another two points.
The sprinter teams now decide that the leading duo have had enough fun for today, and the chase is mounted. Boeing and Magna are doing most of the work, assisted by Kenya Air protecting Martinez' jersey.
26 km from the finish, the leaders reach the short ramp that touches a gradient of 15%. Although just 200m long, it's more than enough for Diaz to crack and lose contact with Grmay over the top.
The gap back to the peloton has in the meantime dropped to just 1'20.
Diaz is caught 10 km later, as Privatbank joins Boeing at the front of the main field. Even points classification leader and fifth overall Kononenko is doing some work!
Just two kms later the break reaches total game over as Grmay is devoured.
No obstacles left for the sprinters then, but Boeing and Magna continues to push the speed higher and higher, to maintain the momentum.
Not at all surprising, as Chicchi and Belletti have both positioned themselves right behind the domestiques, together with Polivoda.
The long, slightly uphill part finally comes to an end with almost exactly 10 km remaining. None of the sprinters seemed to have suffered, as they all easily pass over the last little incline in good position.
Boeing are in complete control as the riders approach the finish with very high speed. Magna decide not to challenge them today, leaving only Kenya Air near the front - keeping Martinez out of trouble exceptionally well.
Colorado accelerates under the 5k-banner, and the Boeing train pushes clear. Belletti slips in right behind Chicchi, with Ghafari and Polivoda battling for the next wheel.
Mikhaylov takes over from Colorado as they enter the final three kilometers. All the sprinters have lined up neatly behind Chicchi in this order:
Mikhaylov
Balinski
Chicchi
Belletti
Makino
Polivoda
Matzka
Baumann
After an incredible pull from Mikhaylov, he moves aside with two km from the line and leaves the road open for Balinski to launch the leadout for Chicchi.
Matzka realises the disadvantage of his position and goes first with 1300m left to run.
Baumann finds this too tempting to stay calm and makes his move on the other side of the train in front of him.
Chicchi reacts swiftly when he sees Matzka coming up on his side and hits the gas with 800m to the line.
Baumann has in the meantime made it up to third position on the other side of the road, hindering Belletti, Makino and Polivoda slightly.
Nobody is really able to match Chicchi's acceleration, and the Italian starts to pull clear as the finish comes into sight.
Matzka and Baumann are still following the closest, but Ghafari is blasting through the group from behind with a shockingly quick Jiriakov tagged on to his wheel. Belletti is also speeding up, while Polivoda and Makino are boxed in behind a fading Baumann.
No one comes even close to Chicchi, though. The Boeing man takes a first look back when he hits the line and realises that he wins by several meters!
Makino finally finds a way around his team mate Baumann in the last 100m and flies past several riders to take second place by half a bike.
The fight for third is insanely close, but photofinish shows that it's non-sprinter Jiriakov who takes it!
A gobsmacked Belletti has to settle for fourth, perhaps a little short of reserve fuel after all those intermediate sprints. Ghafari completes the top 5 and moves closer to the lead in the points classification again.
In the overall, the only change is that Martinez now leads Lutsenko by 1'16 and Jiriakov by 1'25. The seconds gained today shouldn't be sniffed at, as they could very well be the difference between one place and another at the end of the race!
