The Portugese stage race opens up as it will continue, with a flat stage. A whole host of sprinters are here to contest the race, but how much of an impact can that final climb have on today's finale?
Four men enter the breakaway: Cunha, Ilias, Dahlberg and Kiserlovski.
Early drama for one of the stage favourites as Santos crashes.
He gets back to the peloton easily enough, but will it harm his chances later?
The first intermediate sprint comes at the top of a hill, which allows Ilias - one of the leading CT puncheurs - to beat Cunha, the best sprinter in the break.
The Greek rider is off to a flying start to the race as he holds off Dahlberg to take the first King of the Mountains climb.
The next sprint gives us a first view of the finish line, and it is a sufficiently flat finish to allow Cunha to take it.
Curiously, Gazelle are one of the leading teams on the front of the peloton. With Furdi, they have the highest ranked rider in the race - but they don't have one of the stronger sprint teams. Prio-Porto, Die Berg Komt Er and ANC-Halfords are also involved.
40km to go and the break's lead has slipped under 3 minutes. The final intermediate sprint arrives and Cunha just edges Ilias here.
The Portugese rider has thus gained 16 seconds - placing him in a net 2nd overall at the end of the stage. (Assuming the break gets caught, and he can stick with the peloton afterwards).
A strong wind is present today, and the peloton really stretches out during the chase. Sprinters such as Van Loocke and Schinker are amongst those spotted to be struggling somewhat.
Fast forward to 15km to go and the beginning of the second categorised climb of the day. It's 5km long and the break still have a lead of 1'18 to play with.
The break are not to be together for too long though. Cunha is the first to drop as one by one Ilias rides Kiserlovski and Dahlberg off his wheel as well. He leads over the top to secure the King of the Mountains jersey for today - can he also hold on for the stage win?
Crash! Kocetkov, Ansons and ... Cardoso. Disaster for Privatbank to lose probably their best sprinter so close to the end.
Gazelle led the peloton over the climb but fade away now as ANC and Prio take over. Ilias' lead tumbles.
He is caught with 5km to go: sprint time!
Prio and ANC press forwards creating sprint trains.
But the Portugese team can't keep the pace as ANC-Halfords power on with Barclay, Bahati and Nelson.
Schinkers tags on to ANC train as Carvalho, and Martins try to keep Santos in contention.
Duque, Crespo and Sutton join the Prio train but it is Duque's teammates who make the biggest impression, as Abakoumov and Rizza move torwards ANC-Halfords.
Initially on their wheel were Lima, Silvestre, Van Loocke, Ciocan, Belletti, Gavazzi and Dall'Antonia. Its a long train but they can't keep up after Crespo jumps ship and muscles Lima out of the way.
Abakoumov is too strong for ANC who see their train disintegrate some what. And Rizza is launched into a big lead.
Schinker, Crespo, Nelson and Santos open their sprints, with Santos edging ahead - but really flying now in the elevation up to the 1 kilometre to go banner is Dall'Antonia right on the left hand side.
Can he close down Rizza? Easily, as the De Berg rider fades, the Mobil sprinters bursts clear.
Santos is doing ok still to move into 2nd, but now looking fast are Silvestre and Belletti.
Rizza timed his move wrong, has Dall'Antonia done any better? Young Portugese sprinter Silvestre is starting to threaten him as he moves into 2nd.
It's only a short burst from Silvestre though as Santos moves back ahead. But Belletti is faster now as they challenge Dall'Antonia.
But as one Mobil sprinter struggles, another takes over. Ciocan is now looking dangerous.
And Alex Ciocan has timed his sprint perfectly. The Romanian wins the stage!
Belletti takes 2nd, while it is Friedman who managed to follow Ciocan through to nab 3rd ahead of Santos, Dall'Antonia and Silvestre.
Duque can only salvage 7th for Die Berg Komt Er - if only he had been on the end of the Abakoumov/Rizza train! Irvine is 8th, while Nelson could only convert his team's promising train to 9th, and Hansen completes the Top 10.
Behind them there has been a split in the peloton. 43 riders will finish on the same time as Ciocan, the rest are to lose a minute - halving the likely field of GC winners after only a stage.
Most teams have at least 3 riders in the front 43, except Risa-Ergon (2) and Magna-Ryanair (1).
And what of the day's breakaway? They all finished together - even Ilias, but further back 2 minutes down, so the time bonuses gained will come to nothing.
