Its the queen stage of the Tour of Britain. The overall GC will not be decided here due to the final day TT, but those in with a shout need to step forward today and deliver.
Around 14 people attack, with Adam Blythe as the Brit, but my the 2nd KoM climb its down to 7 as young American Matt Crane attacks to win the KoM points, having already won the first one.
Crane, Da Dalto, Sacchi, Krivtsov, Poos, Roesems and Klier are the break.
The intermediate sprint midway throught the stage is unusual as at 1.5km to go, when the sprint begins, the riders are at the top of a short steep descent. This gives a great advantage to the rider at the front so Roesems surprisingly wins the sprint.
Crane wins the next 2 KoM sprints to effectively secure the jersey for good, while the peleton grows smaller as it comes closer to the break.
Sacchi and Klier attack away from their companions as we approach the final climb. Its the toughest of the day but theres no KoM sprint, instead theres an intermediate sprint. And instead of being at the top, its about halfway up.
Straight after the sprint, the strong hilly riders (Plus Boonen + Petacchi) surge forward and get a gap. Phillipe Gilbert now leads on his own, Frantisek Rabon is 2nd, followed by a group of 10: Kessler, Fédrigo, Boonen, Kroon, Petacchi, Nuyens, Rebellin, Gerdemann, Klier and Gil.
Gilbert is looking strong and rides for victory while Rabon is sure to be caught by the next group. But can the pelton catch them having regrouped on the descent?
Up front, Phillipe Gilbert takes victory!
Normarily, he would have got a big enough gap, enough to secure the race ... but the chase group contains Petacchi and Boonen, so Gilbert has no hope of a gap as Boonen beats Petacchi into 2nd.
At least the lead 12 riders have got a gap on the peleton, that way neither David Millar nor Michael Rogers can win the race now but that would be ignoring Accumjalux' supreme tactics.
Koldo Gil is a bad sprinter, and makes use of that in this tactic. Thanks to Klier, he keeps on the same time as the rest of the lead group. Enter Mikhail Ignatiev, sprinting as if his life depended on it, he manages to close down enough and cross the line less than 20 seconds after Gil and Millar and Rogers are now back in the GC hunt. (This was obviously a plan made by Accumalux and Fed-Ex since Barbosa was also there as 'backup' for Ignatiev)