From Tallinn to Tartu, this is a classic for the sprinters. Check out the race discussion thread for a full preview.
A breakaway may not have much chance of winning today, but still they try. Fominykh, Wellens, Howson, Cheung and Ahmed.
Vespa, Privatbank and AirBaltic took care of the peloton - for their leaders Guarnieri, Maksimov and Cavendish.
With 30km to go, the break's lead is down to 2 minutes - and Boy van Poppel attack the peloton! Slightly surprising, as he is UPC's lead sprinter.
Bpost now join in with the relaying, in support of Feillu.
Van Poppel catches the break at 20km to go. Who then sit up...
Fominykh, Cheung, Ahmed and Howson attack away from Wellens and Van Poppel though, and extend their stay infront of the peloton.
The gap is small by 15km to go, as airBaltic are suddenly put under a lot of pressure. All teams who had been relaying with them now go on the attack, with: Petrie-Armstrong, Feillu, Buts and Albert. Why on earth is Feillu attacking?
It is chased down though, as are the rest of the day's breakaway, as we move into the final 10 kilometres of the race.
Another dangerous attack follows, this time including all the teams who have been relaying!
Albert, Dall'Antonia, Petrie-Armstrong, Buts, Van Poppel, Van Leijen, and Vaitkus.
Late attacking has worked for Dall'Antonia already this season in C2 races, while if you look back through the history of flat CT races over many seasons, they are littered with late attacks by Vaitkus!
With nobody to chase, could this be a surprise winning move?
No, as Feillu continues his confusing race by chasing it down.
Van Leijen stays clear though, and opens up a 12 second gap with just 4km remaining.
Docker had been stationed near the front, but has now sat up for the day even before the sprint, which won't help AirBaltic.
Petrie-Armstrong, Buts and Albert are on the front of the peloton, but not exactly chasing after Van Leijen!
Behind them there is a 'train' of Dall'Antonia, Vaitkus, Cavendish, Krasnov, Maksimov and Chicchi.
Kreder sits on the wheel of La Lavandier, while relatively well placed towards the front are Rasmussen, Bozic, Clarke, Kankovsky, Zabel and Guarnieri.
Feillu has dropped well back from his previous good position.
Its a 15 second lead for Van Leijen with 2km to go!
And the sprinters are playing into his hands as they refuse to open it up, approaching the final kilometre. The Bpost rider drifting forwards is La Lavandier.
The sprint is finally started by Rizza and Manarelli. They needed to go early as they started a long way back - and they may have caught out the other sprinters here.
Indeed Rizza almost passes them all, but Cavendish has made his move now.
Vaitkus tries to follow his teammate, as do the rest of that line: Dall'Antonia, Krasnov and Maksimov. A gap has opened up on the left hand side, and Guarnieri is leading through various sprinters into it.
Cavendish looks unstoppable as he moves past a fading Van Leijen.
And Mark Cavendish does take victory, delivering for airBaltic-Endura with ease!
Close battle for 2nd, which Rizza takes.
Vaitkus makes it a great day for the Baltic team for 3rd, while Manarelli is 4th and Dall'Antonia 5th.
Krasnov, Maksimov, Guarnieri, Rasmussen and Chicchi all complete the Top 10. It's a relative surprise to see Krasnov as the best Russian, with Maksimov struggling to make the step back up to C1 after his C2 victories recently. I imagine Rasmussen will be quite pleased to have cracked a Top 10 as well! Youngster Rick Zabel is fairly impressive in taking 11th here.
With so many teams here, there are of course many who leave disappointed. Bpost, UPC, Credexbank, Lukoil, and Risa are the lowest scoring teams from the race - while Rothaus and Ekspla failed to score anything.
