As often in these types of races, the first moves are made directly after the neutralization part. And the first attack comes from a duo! It's Khalifa and McKenna off the front. Quickly they ride themselves an advantage of 1 minute until there is any reaction. Many attacks follow but Teklit does a fantastic job to keep dangerous moves away.
Still the couple is ahead, being nearly caught a couple of times though. This must have caused some serious efforts to keep it going, but now it semms like they've gotten away.
While in the peloton Eritel got some help concerning the pace-making, still they do a remarkable job though. But now Strava is also involved in the pace making, later Netia and Compal join these.
In the meantime one man has managed to bridge the gap, and that guy is...
... De Souza for Euskaltel. The trio seems to be save and gone with 120 km to go reaching the magical time gap of three minutes. Many teams are interestedin the chase though: Evonik, Prio, Ayubowan and Azteca.
They give the break the maximum advantage of 5 mins with 90 km to go. Karcher & Ayubowan join then, and we also see...
... Damiano Cunego working. This is kind of a surprise being one of the stronger puncheurs, that are given a well shot today with an altitude of over 1600m to climb over the day.
He is contributing to the work of the peloton, that slightly eats into the advantage of the group. From under 3 minutes with 55 to go, thier advantage slims down to 2 minutes with 35 to go.
By the way we are hearing the final race radio that there is no rain or wind expected today. Good news for the sprinters, as races in Brazil are known for climatic issues, especially drastic changes of the weather conditions.
Attack! With 32 kilometers to go the first rider from the bunch grabs an opportunity, and it is...
... Gianni Meersman
for Evonik! Does he have a real go or is this a fake move for Dzamastagic? We'll see. Teklit though responds and increases the pace for Impey in the pack immediately. Finally it's again Cunego that brings him back.
But directly afterwards we have the next attack, just as we pass the 30 km banner. Feeling like he's capable of bridging the disadvantage of 1'17 to the trio upfront...
.. Grabovski launches an attack to show the flag of the World Tour riders. Karcher, VisitUkraine and Prio bring him back after 5 kilometers though. It seems like the sprinters don't want to miss this opportunity.
1'05 is the advantage the breakaway has when we reach the start of the final 2 rounds, 17,6 kilometers ahead they will pass the finishing line. So far the race has missed some huge attacks, will the final two passages over the hill bring us some more action? They reach the first of these with 15 km to go. Teklit, who contests for the most kilometers at the front of the peloton today, is out of the pace now and completely empty.
On the opposite VisitUkraine is happy to take it over, still Cunego and now Randrianambinina do the job to close the 45 seconds.
Reaching the end of the rising road the peloton is now well in sight for the break (30 seconds), so over the top...
... McKenna grabs his heart with two hands and attacks. Only De Souza is able to come back on the descent; Khalifa is dead and gone.
You see the big stature of Konovalovas coming to the fore after doing much hard work with 8.6 to go as the final lap begins. Still 25 seconds for the duo upfront.
7.5 kilometers, the group is now eaten up by Afonso. Teams are trying to create trains for...
... Ulanowski, Vantomme, Coutinho and Haussler. Impey surely will be without a train today if it comes to a sprint, he is completely on his own. The puncheurs have to go now as it's their last chance to attack the race. But pretty near to the hill neither Flügel nor Waeytens are seen at the front. A couple of interesting men are there though, talking about the likes of Baugnies, Summerhill and Langeveld.
The final rise beginns; now Cunego...
...is dragging uphill from the front. Will he hurt his main sprinter with this effort? Yet it doesn't look like it. But the pace is too high for anybody, so that nobody can attack or at leasst doesn't want to. Over the top all stays together, and we see train approches while the peloton is still lead by Randrianambinina. Seems like a massive job done from Cunego, as...
...VisitUkraine is still near the front. Going into the downhill it's best placed train for Ulanowski ( Polivoda, Nikolaev), Haussler ( Balloni, Vilela) and Coutinho ( Carvalho, Costa). Netia for Vantomme ( Franczak, Pierzga) is not placed too well right now, but not out of contension yet. Park, Impey, Summerhill, Breschel, Andriato, Harrison & many more can only battle for wheels but don't look top placed. Boivin, Dzamastagic, Aregger, Weylandt, Bellis, Gallopin, Baugnies, Langeveld around P20-30 at the moment.
Doing a left hand turn these places shuffle up a little bit, but the same teams keep it up in their strong positions. At 1.6 kilometers to go and full speed, the downhill is almost done. Still...
...Visit Ukraine is in prime position with Randrianambinina. They lost their train order though, as men are all at the front but a little all over the place. On the big wheels are:
Polivoda
Ulanowski
Franczak
Carvalho
Vantomme
Coutinho
Balloni
Park
Impey
Haussler
Weylandt
Aregger
Andriato
Breschel
Boivin
Opie
Harrison
Summerhill
Dzamastagic
Flamme Rouge!
Has Ulanowski left it too late? It looks like it as the Netia train is much faster when Carvalho completely crosses Vantommes way. Aregger with 75 kph the fastest man currently in Vantommes slipstream, but also Park and Boivin look good right now. Hausslers wheels seems to be the wrong one today, also Impey maybe too far behind.
600 meters: Now you can surely say that...
.. Ulanowski left it too late. Franczak looks very fast, his good downhill skills must help him a lot at these speeds. He creates the prime position for Vantomme, who is on Carvalhos wheel. Coutinho hangs on Vantomme, so maybe a shared train to the victory foor one of these too?
300 meters. Vantomme...
...goes hard. Is this the finishing move? He comes around Carvalho with Coutinho out of his slipstream. Will this be the final battle?
As sad as it is it seems that Ulanowski completely lost it and will finish behind Polivoda, as he fails to create some speed onto his pedals.
Last 100 Meters. Franczak..
...sits up and is empty. In front of him his captain Vantomme takes the lead. But can he keep it for the final meters? Coutinho looks faster. This will surely be a great result for both Netia and Prio though.
Breschel comes from behind with a good pace as well as Impey, and they together box in Haussler on the right side of the road. But can anybody challenge Vantomme or Coutinho with a late push now from these? Highly doutable.
No they can't! It's another great win for the Belgian, who finishes in front of the portuguese duo. They'll surely make a great podium, and team Prio will recieve the price for the most intelligent racing.
Behind these "leadout" Polivoda in front of Park and the battelling trio, in between whose Ulanowski finishes as a disappointing 8th.
Franczak comes in to round off the Top10. He is finishing off a great day containing clever riding for Netia in front of Aregger and Weylandt. Then we have Boivin and Harrison as last of the contenders close to the victorious riders.
A disappointing race for all the guys who hoped for a hard race with empty legs and splits. At the end it was a sprinters finish that was not really expected in this format. Especially the complete anonymous racing of Wiesenhof and Ayubowan was very surprising, maybe they came here too late and suffered a jetlag today.
Vantomme is not even bothered by them scrapped hopes of opponents, he absolutely loves to
recieve the trophy and the kisses from the podium girls. A great race for Netia and Prio mostly, but some other teams like Compal also scored unexpected and useful points here.
Brazil 
