Still no relenting in these tough parcours we have another nasty looking stage. Not a hill top finish today but following a difficult last half of the stage there is a tough little uncategorised bump just before today's finish.
Possibly a decent chance for a break, we'll see.
Schleck is having a real go at this but Gesink is looking solid in defending his Basque crown. Even the mythical hill creature Trofimov is finding this race hard going!
We pick it up at the first categorised climb of the day (a 3rd cat) a break of five are 45 seconds clear.
Schwab (Puma), Passalacqua (Venchi), Wyss (Wiggle), Reichenbach (UBs), Weiss (CalGiant) are in the group.
None of these rider have any KoM points to speak of and Schwab is the best GC man 7 minutes back on Gesink, so a good break for the pack.
Schwab leads them over the second of the tow early 3rd cat climbs with about 100km to go with a four minute lead.
It moves Schwab to 12 KoM points, so the Puma man has a chance to move forward in that competition (but not able to get close of course to Ulissi's 50 points).
However Schwab looks uninterested as he slots over the first of todays two second cats in 5th place behind Ulissi's teammate Pichon.
Wiggle have decided they'd like to chase this down with Aker also looking for a stage win today.
Nordhaug takes the next climb and 3rd cat with no-one from this break making a late KoM points grabbing run, Passalacqua the best point nabbed with 16 points, Schwab with 14 points gained.
45km to go and the breaks lead is down to three minutes, Wiggle disappear from the front passing the baton to 1t4i.
It's time to let things dangle out there....
30km to go and the gap is still a out three minutes, here is the finale.
That big second cat climb dominates this finish with that little ramp just before the end a possible late launch pad.
The break are rolling through these sprints by the way:
Pichon took out the first over Terciado and Nordhaug. At the second it was Terciado, Nordhaug and Passalacqua.
Onto that second category, any favourites fancy this? You bet, it's Ponzi who lights it up.
Keinath, Monfort, Bakelants, Hagen, Schumahcer and Rodrigues try to follow.
None of these can quite get across to Ponzi who sits 20 seconds clear.
This is massively reducing the breaks advantage as we settle into a rhythm, Ponzi twenty seconds clear of the pack led by favourites like Hagen, Schumacher and Gilbert.
A couple of klicks from the top Schleck noticing Gesink is poorly placed tries a move.
Hagen and Trofimov manage to join him hooking up with Ponzi a little way clear.
The break meanwhile show some desperation to remain clear over the top with Pichon, Nordhuag, Terciado and Wyss pushing hard.
Things merge together over the top as. Pichon (who ended up the KoM points grabber of the day with 24 points), Wyss and Nordhaug are 30 seconds clear.
Hagen leads the favourites group of around 90 riders.
Sensing things are calming down Rodrigues (Hollister) goes clear
10km to go: The lead three (Nordhaug, Pichon, Wyss) have decent stage win prospects with a 37 second gap on Rodrigues and a minutes on the pack.
Nordhaug decides he does not want to chance the sprint and attacks with 9km to go.
Ponzi is refusing to let this go though and he attacks for. The pack with seven km to go.
Hagen again looks to follow with Trofimov.
Gesink has to respond and he does with Bakelants, Schumacher and Gilbert.
Nothing from Schleck who sends Gastauer and Paterski to the front.
Five to go for Nordhaug who is cheered on but a Scandenavian like pretty.
His gap to Pichon and Wyss is 25 seconds.
Ponzi, Hagen, Trofimov are at 32 seconds
Schumahcer, Gilbert, Gesink, Rodrigues, Bakelants are at 46 seconds
The Vesuvio led pack is at 1.37, it's looking bad for Schleck and the other favourites stuck here.
That last rise is between 4km to go and about 2km to go, so this is crucial to so many now.
The chasers merge.
Wyss gets on the front for Ponzi great domestique work.
3.3km left and Ponzi pushes on.
Paterski has done his best for Schleck and the pack is close to Gesink and Trofimov.
Keinath and Van Den Broeck are in close attendance.
Ponzi joins Nordhaug, now can he finish this off?
Well Hagen has powered across and Bakelants, Schumcher are looking to attack up.
2.5km left: Bakelants and Trofimov come up to Ponzi, Nordhaug and Hagen.
Schumacher and Gilbert are just behind.
Schleck has joined Gesink along with Wyss, Pichon and Rodrigues.
Bakelants and Trofimiv are romping clear of the others.
The duo hit the kite with a time advantage in the others could this be a late GC bid from Trofimov?
Hagen, Schumacher, Ponzi, Gilbert, Nordhaug are 15 seconds back
Wyss, Gesink, Schleck, Van Den Broeck, TvG, Pozzato lead the rest at 24 seconds.
Ouch on this downhill sprint Monfort (9th on GC) falls off on the side of the road.
450m left: Things could be bunching together as time gaps seem to be disappearing. Bakelants refuses to surrender to the seemingly inevitable Trifimov pass.
Hagen is leading the battle for the final podium place.
It still looks like gaps could be recorded.
Bakelants checks over his shoulder and celebrates the win.
Trofimov is second, Hagen third.
Things look to have bunched together enough at the end for no gaps.
Gilbert is 4th, Ponzi 5th, Schmi 6th, Nordhaug 7th, Pozzato 8th, VdB 9th, De La Fuente 10th.
Stage results
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Jan Bakelants
Pearl Adidas
4h15'32
2
Yuri Trofimov
Koenigsegg
s.t.
3
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
s.t.
4
Philippe Gilbert
Pendleton's
s.t.
5
Simone Ponzi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Stefan Schumacher
UBS - BMC
s.t.
7
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Aker - MOT
s.t.
8
Filippo Pozzato
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
9
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
10
David De la Fuente
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
11
Tejay Van Garderen
Wikipedia
s.t.
12
Marcel Wyss
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
13
Robin van der Hugenhaben
Koenigsegg
s.t.
14
Frank Schleck
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
15
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
s.t.
16
Peter Sagan
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
17
Dimitri Claeys
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
18
Laurent Pichon
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
19
Diego Ulissi
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
20
Michał Kwiatkowski
Team B&O
s.t.
21
Domenik Klemme
Team B&O
s.t.
22
Vitor Rodrigues
Hollister Pro Cycling
s.t.
23
Mauro Facci
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
24
Jonathan McEvoy
Pendleton's
s.t.
25
Nico Keinath
Team B&O
s.t.
26
Maciej Paterski
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
27
Hubert Schwab
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
28
Damiano Caruso
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
29
Bauke Mollema
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
30
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
31
Matteo Rabottini
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
32
Jukka Vastaranta
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
33
Dominique Nerz
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
34
Nikias Arndt
Team B&O
s.t.
35
Danny Summerhill
Wikipedia
s.t.
36
Adil Jelloul
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
37
Alberigo Passalacqua
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
38
Jack Bobridge
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
39
Tanel Kangert
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
40
Tom Diggle
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
41
Dan Craven
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
42
Jay McCarthy
Wikipedia
s.t.
43
Cesare Di Maggio
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
44
Michael Albasini
UBS - BMC
s.t.
45
Ioannis Tamouridis
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
46
Santo Anza
Koenigsegg
s.t.
47
Brent Bookwalter
Wikipedia
s.t.
48
Yonathan Monsalve
Hollister Pro Cycling
s.t.
49
Travis Meyer
Wikipedia
s.t.
50
Nick Kinney
Wikipedia
s.t.
51
Jakub Danacik
Koenigsegg
s.t.
52
John-Lee Augustyn
Aker - MOT
s.t.
53
Julien Simon
Project 1t4i
s.t.
54
Tom Leezer
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
55
Ion Izagirre
Hollister Pro Cycling
s.t.
56
Matthias Frank
UBS - BMC
s.t.
57
Jonathan Castroviejo
Project 1t4i
s.t.
58
Wesley Kreder
Project 1t4i
s.t.
59
Vegard Robinson Bugge
Aker - MOT
s.t.
60
Andrei Grivko
Team B&O
s.t.
61
Christophe Kern
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
62
Pieter Ghyllebert
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
