Last chance for the sprinters today. But as the profile has some hills, it might also be a good opportunity for the breakaway specialists.
Oz has a good race so far GC wise. Sprinting wise they can improve for sure as Michael Matthews is still waiting for his first win. So eventually today.
5 riders in the breakaway and none of them is any danger in the GC. So their chances aren`t the worst. Jungels Hofer Atkins Van Keirsbulck Bolivar
Oz and Jaguar doing the early pace for their top sprinters Matthews and Bennett.
Still the gap is going up early on.
3'17 already at the first KoM where Bolivar takes it ahead of Van Keirsbulck and Jungels. But none of them is interested. All for the stage win for those.
2nd KoM follows just a bit later.
Van Keirsbulck, Hofer, Jungels the order here with a 4'22 gap now.
80km and as the gap is up to 5'30. Time for Jaguar in especially to higher the pace supported by Oz.
As later also Volkswagen joined the chasing the breakaway had no chance to survive. 8km to the finish they are caught.
Edmondson
Zepuntke
Zabel
Durbridge
Tewelde
Havik
Weiss
Cisse
Van der Sande
Matthews
Bennett
Grosu
Demare
Holst Enger
Coutinho
Coquard
Stallaert
McLay
Krieger
Aregger
Houle comes strong on the left when the sprint starts. The Oz train obviously is the weakest as they lack the speed at the moment. So it`s not looking good for the first Matthews win. Even worse the situation for Stallaert and Krieger as they get blocked a lot when Holst Enger decided to change to that train for some reason.
Zabel starts the sprint as first of the top sprinters, while Bennett is behind him and Matthews being back in the competition.
Also Grosu, Demare and Havik in a good position.
Stage win no.2 for Zabel? Unlikely as Bennett goes past him and also Havik and Grosu are on the same line with Demare coming fast.
Matthews struggles a bit to keep their speed as also Van der Sande comes from behind.
No.2 for Bennett, who showed a nice sprint today.
But it was close behind him as Demare and Grosu showed a great fight. In the end the French wins it closely.
Van der Sande as 4th with his best result here so far ahead of Havik. Matthews only 6th with Zabel dropping to 7th ahead of Van der Lijke, Holst Enger and Weiss.
Coutinho
