The race opener is a flat stage, although there is a little kick towards the end which may catch out some of the sprinters.
5 men in the break: Aregger Chtioui Laengen Burke Heider
Heider won the first KoM infront of Laengen, and the pair then dueled for 2nd place on Climb 2 to decide who would wear the KoM jersey after the opening day.
Heider just edged it, so the home rider will lead the classification after today on 10 points. Laengen has 6, as does Aregger.
As well as winning the 2nd climb, Aregger also took out all three intermediate sprints on the route.
That's all for the breakaway though, they were caught with 18km to go.
Into the final 10km, and a massive crash in the peloton!
Over 50 riders involved, but most of the team leaders seem to have missed it. But not all - Jaroslav Popovych is amongst the fallers. So unlucky in his only PT stage race of the year.
The sprint trains come to the fore at the 5km to go mark, with one leadout man for each of the 3 top sprinters in the race. Degenkolb has Kluge, Van Heerden has Jelloul, and Swift has Caethoven. The likes of Mohs and Ciolek are a long way back, and already out of it.
Kluge struggles to match the other two leadouts though as the sprint nears. Vesuvio's Merino Criado makes a late dash to the front of his sprint train but cannot make it.
Not many riders are looking to be involved in the sprint today, and some ominous climbing names have got themselves in the mix. PCT star Hoffman has Van Stayen's wheel, with a finish that could suit him and help to salvage his team's day. But then on Swift's wheel it is Bakelandts, Reynes and Phinney!
Jelloul wins the leadout battle to drop Van Stayen off in a great position.
The Belgian goes for it with more than a kilometre to go and Hoffman cannot keep up. Swift and Degenkolb are chasing after him but we can really see the extent of the uphill finish now.
The slope is only 1.3% but it feels like a lot more. Swift takes the lead, but look who is coming up on the far side of the road.
Bakelandts and Phinney storm through to battle for victory.
And the winner is...
Taylor Phinney!
Not so good for the sprinters then with Swift ending 3rd, Van Stayen 7th and Degenkolb 8th. The German duo of Schumacher and Burghardt had come through for 4th and 6th, surrounding Reynes.
Koren and Van den Broeck complete the Top 10, while Popovych lost as massive 4'45.
Two riders had to abandon from the crash: Stef Clement and Adrian Malori. A blow for the TTT squads of both teams.
1
Taylor Phinney
Wikipedia
4h51'06
2
Jan Bakelants
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
3
Ben Swift
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
4
Stefan Schumacher
UBS - BMC
s.t.
5
Vicente Reynès
Santander
s.t.
6
Marcus Burghardt
Team Bacardi
s.t.
7
Juan Van Heerden
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
8
John Degenkolb
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
9
Kristjan Koren
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
10
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
11
Ricardo Van der Velde
Team Bacardi
s.t.
12
Domenik Klemme
Team B&O
s.t.
13
Adil Jelloul
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
14
Nolan Hoffman
Metinvest-Emirates
s.t.
15
Roger Kluge
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
16
Pedro Merino Criado
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
17
Dan Craven
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
18
Steven Caethoven
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
19
Walter Pedraza
Koenigsegg
s.t.
20
Vitaliy Popkov
Metinvest-Emirates
s.t.
21
Matthieu Ladagnous
Pendleton's
s.t.
22
Daniel Martin
Pendleton's
s.t.
23
David De la Fuente
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
24
Nico Keinath
Team B&O
s.t.
25
Tanel Kangert
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
26
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
s.t.
27
Leigh Howard
Milka - AVG
s.t.
28
Jaroslav Kulhavy
Milka - AVG
s.t.
29
Martin Hacecký
Team B&O
s.t.
30
Jakub Danacik
Koenigsegg
s.t.
31
Paolo Scarponi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
32
Dominique Nerz
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
33
Manuel Lloret
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
34
Leopold König
Milka - AVG
s.t.
35
Dmitri Grabovski
Team Bacardi
s.t.
36
Pello Bilbao
Team Bacardi
s.t.
37
Tim Dees
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
38
Vladimir Gusev
Pendleton's
s.t.
39
Kevin Van Impe
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
40
Konstantin Siutsou
Pendleton's
s.t.
41
Janez Brajkovic
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
42
Markus Fothen
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
43
Jean-Patrick Nazon
Control Team
s.t.
44
Andrew Talansky
Wikipedia
s.t.
45
Jelle Vanendert
Project 1t4i
s.t.
46
Rigoberto Úran
Milka - AVG
s.t.
47
Wout Poels
Project 1t4i
s.t.
48
Tyler Brandt
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
49
Sten Stenersen
Team B&O
s.t.
50
Benoît Vaugrenard
Project 1t4i
s.t.
51
Jelle Wallays
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
52
Ethan Weiss
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
