A very hilly route in Portugal which could suit any of the top puncheurs lined up here.
There is also the breakaway threat, and here they are.
Broco provides a Portugese presence, alongside fellow CT rider Lang, plus Altur, Klostergaard and Gradek.
Lang has a good record on Portugese soil this season after taking 7th overall in the C2HC Volta ao Algarve. More recently, Altur delivered a fine 12th place at the HC Tour of the Battenkill.
Two riders attacked from the peloton with about 50km to go, Soler and Moinard.
With the break's lead at just 2 and a half minutes they should be able to bridge the gap - and they are clearly more of a threat. Moinard was 5th at the aforementioned Volta ao Algarve, while Soler has breakaway pedigree - it helped him to 4th overall at Tropicale Amissa Bongo.
There are many teams who do not want a break to win though. RBC, Kenya Airways and Gazelle are prominent in the pace making. Last year's runner up in this race Weening is happy to do relays for team leader Monfort.
The gap is down to 1'40 with 30km to go, but is still at 1'40 with 20km to go. The breakaway, plus Moinard and Soler, are putting up a fight. Lang tries to attack away from the group.
He doesn't get a gap but others keep trying over the next few kilometres. Broco's attempt is shut down by a dangerous looking move by Soler.
Just 12km to go, and the gap is edging out to 2 minutes. Surely not another breakaway win on the cards?
Finally, with barely more than a kilometre left of the penultimate climb, Froome and Skujins spring to life.
A group of 7 forms, with those 2 joined by Bellis, Ben Nasser, Monfort, Gautier and Di Maggio.
Betancourt chases solo, with another gap to a group led by local favourite Mendes.
Roy is here too, along with Anderson and Weening. RBC and Gazelle clearly looking for more than 1 rider to score points after working throughout the day!
RBC were still left on the front of the peloton at this stage so clearly the gaps started growing. Portugese team Karcher's leader McEvoy eventually attacks, but he has left it quite late.
Cobo waits until the top of the climb to make a move, with Bilbao and Wyss also going later in the descent.
That will earn them minor placings, but the race for the win is up ahead of them.
Just 4 from the breakaway remain in the lead. Moinard, Lang, Soler and Gradek.
Into the final 5 kilometres they still have 50 seconds on the chasing group of favourites. Here are the gaps:
As you can see further back, Weening and Anderson weren't too keen to exert themselves having gotten clear of the peloton, and are well left behind by Mendes and Roy.
One climb remains, although it isnt as steep as the preceding one. Gautier attacks!
Others follow, and this serves to bring back the lead group of 4, to make a front group of 11. (Klostergaard, Altur and Broco having dropped away)
Over the top, Betancourt finally manages to make contact with the group. There is only 2km of a fast downhill to the finish. The best downhiller in the group is actually Lang, but more realistically, Froome and Di Maggio are the best here going down.
But the man to attack is Ben Nasser!
Froome and Di Maggio do follow, as the Tunisian hits speeds of 70 km/h.
Sprint stat won't mean much at this pace, as the rest of the group string out in a line across the road, battling for 4th.
Froome bids to move alongside Ben Nasser with the finish line in sight.
But that isn't actually the finish line, that comes a few hundred metres later. This allows Chris Froome to cruise to a comfortable victory for Quickstep.
Ben Nasser can be happy to still take 2nd.
Di Maggio faded towards the end and it is Skujins who manages to hold off the finishing kick of Bellis to take 3rd.
Gautier is 5th and Monfort 6th before Di Maggio. 8th is all Betancourt could manage after his initial reaction to the attack was just too slow.
Soler and Moinard are rewarded for their mid-stage aggression with a Top 10 finish, while Lang and Gradek can be very pleased with 11th and 12th.
Mendes finishes as best Portugese rider in 13th, ahead of Roy who really isn't having a good year.
The rest of the break came next. Mcevoy managed to catch Weening and Anderson only for the pair to sit on his wheel as he valiantly tried to chase, and then they both outsprinted him at the end.
Cobo, Bilbao and Wyss all remained ahead of the peloton, which was led in by Vastaranta and Mancuso for the final ranking point scoring positions.
