Who will triumph with over 9 ascents of that 5 KM-5% hill?



The 5 man break:

The break establishes very early on. Interestingly the 3 stand out favourites each have a teammate in the break. Tactics!



Before long the fog descends!

You can barely see a few meters ahead of you. Such climatic weather is just for a race at such a point in the season.



Kohler leads the peloton with 141 KM to go. The break are at 6'42, their advantage would never get much higher.


84 KM to go - Peloton at 5'10.

Geschke, well protected by a host of his teammates. The peloton have just increased their speed, which is terrible news for one team whose leader has punctured ......



With 80 KM to go Wyss punctures, not a good time to puncture, he is quickly out the rear of the peloton....



Team Vontobel domestiques are off the front of the peloton and out the rear. Can Kohler, Lang and Schuler get their leader back to the rear of the peloton? The peloton is out of sight through the fog.



He is back. Wyss makes it back to the bunch with over 75 KM to go. Tense moments for his team, they are over for now.


25 KM to go - 1'10 to the break.

The fog lifts and the next piece of action is with 25 KM to go. Bole would put in a solo attack out of the bunch.


11 KM to go - Break @ '41.

Bole would be caught before bridging across to the break. Bank of Ireland – Irish Cycling and Team Vontobel have been the most prominent chasers today.


5 KM to go - Break @ '20.

We start the final climb and Barberi is still out front, the last of the break. However, his advantage is minimal and he is bound to be caught.



Russian Pozdnyakov attacks, the first really incisive move of the stage. Wyss & Fahnert are the next to follow.




Lejman and Bole are the next to move, followed by Kolobnev and Mendes.

Geschke tries to attack across ....



but Geschke can't attack across. The Evonik rider sets pace behind as a quality 10 man group (including previous attackers and Tiernan-Locke & Bugge) has a gap of '12 seconds.



However, we are soon all back together, with well under 3 KM to go as no one wanted to push on the pace in the lead group.



With just over 2 KM to go we see Kolobnev hit the front and start setting the fiercest tempo yet.



But the tempo can't be that strong as Tiernan-Locke puts in a big attack over the steepest gradient, Wyss, Lejman and Kolobnev counter.



The quartet pull out a gap of '8 over the chasers, of which a 3 man group is most prominent, which is led by Pozdnyakov who has Mendes and Bugge in-tow.


Deep into the last kilometre.

Kolobnev, once again, upped the tempo but Lejman would come flying past.

Mendes started further behind, but is the fastest with the race end but meters away.



We have seen this before this season: Lejman vs Mendes.

Who will come out on top this time?



Win for FCB - Polska! The Pole comes out on top, Mendes was the faster finisher, but Lejman went with the right move and is rewarded with the win.

Home favourite Kolobnev rounds out the podium ahead of, puncture victim, Wyss (4th) and Tiernan-Locke (5th).

Risa - Ergon would finish with two in the top 7, notably Rake came from well back for a decent finish.



Evonik might well be content with Geschke's 8th place, on a stage which wasn't perfectly suited to him. Pozdnyakov rode well to round out the top 10, with Bissinger rounding out the lead 15 man group.