Spots on to Scandinavia for another day of professional cycling brought to you by pcm.daily! Direction Huskvarna is the the motto for today when the sun shines this morning in Vaggeryd. Favpurites for today are Froome and Kinoshita in first place, but many others should be able to compete for today's throne.
Right from the flag Thalmann is the first guy to attack for Vontobel. But the peloton is not letting him go easily, so the counterattacks keep on coming.
We get the first proper view of the peloton with a shocking indicator for some.
Heavy wind is coming up here, and from the beginning on the peloton is stretched out very long. Arrinera putting on the pressure from the beginning, which might make it even harder for groups to get away. So far no breakaway can establish itself, will that keep on going like this?
Just as we reach the hilly circuit around the Bondberget, it seems like a first couple of riders has established a serious lead. Surprisingly it's...
...Generali with Boaro in front. He's joined by Morabito for Team UBS.
The peloton so far is controlled mainly by Arrinera, also Meiji and Indosat contributing to the chase. That leads to the fact that the advantage was never going to be more than the 5 minutes with 100km to go.
The next couple of kilometers nothing amazing happens. It's all about Indosat and Arrinera controlling the race and keeping a safe distance to the break. To give you a stat: 33 kilometers before the finishing line the advantage for the break is down to 1'30.
Froome though is fearly near to the front and often looks like being in the wind, but at the front it's the safest to avoid crashes. Anuar Aziz marking him down all the way though.
With 15 kilometers to go and 50 seconds difference it seems like Wiesenhof has waken up a little. They're joining the fun on the windy coast road to tire some legs.
The lonesome duo is already well in sight turning onto the ramp for the penultimate time. Morabito is very much aware of the danger and...
...attacks Boaro on the climb. Paulus and Buchmann seemed to be well in control for Flügel and just about catching Boaro, when...
Anuar Aziz grabs his heart in both hands and goes for an attack over the top of the Bondberget. He's doing instant damage, not by getting far away...
, but by putting the pressure on the peloton. With the heavy wind it rips into pieces. Wiesenhof leaving their own captain behind, cause only Froome and Kinoshita can go after it. And right as imagined...
...we have the next attack near to the 10k banner which is Froome and Kinoshita leaving the peloton behind on the flat section uptop. Meanwhile Anuar Aziz has caught Morabito and streams past him, with the two favourites coming after them directly.
The peloton...
...goes hard after this move, still the two Wiesenhof boys involved as well as two Vontobel jerseys. Main part of the chase though is done by Smith for his leader van der Hugenhaben. And guess what,...
...the peloton comes back thanks to a huge effort. All three caught favourites stay on the front pedal to the metal though, most likely because it's only 4km left of the race being on the windiest section and with the final hill close to come. Pretty spare damage done though on the flat section as we finally turn on the three hilly kilometers to the finishing line. We have...
Froome and McCarthy in first line. Afterwards it's van der Hugenhaben and Anuar Aziz. A lot of helpers for the front four in the remaining space before the rest of the pack, that could hurt everyone behind these as soon the pace will extend. Behind the helpers Ulissi has a solid position as well, while...
same position as the screenshot above
...others look like they have lost decicive ground. From best placed to worst placed on the pic we see Kinoshita Di Maggio Flügel Palini Gautier Bilbao Bellis Schumacher Reichenbach Vogt Caruso Vastaranta
All other captains should be dsefinitely out of it, though some helpers are still in the mix but most likely to drop back.
But who is going to fade upfront?
For the first 1,5 kms of climbing we have that uphill drag race we talked about. McCarthy going a little bit backwords while both Flügel and Anuar Aziz seem to be on strong legs.
Flamme Rouge!
Anuar Aziz or Froome? Seems like the malaysian could be the man today. Ulissi looked good for a short time but now fades a little as van der Hugenhaben streams past him as well as Flügel.
Tension is rising, who is going to have the most Valverd'esque legs? At 500 meters to go it's still looking good for the Asian. Froome looks pretty much done, but Di Maggio found something in the tank and van der Hugenhaben sits in third currently going fastest of all riders.
Slightly further back Ulissi fades heavily. Zaini surprisingly recieves a second breath of strength and holds contact to the front, which is exactly where he delivered Anuar Aziz to. But can his mate deliver today?
Yes he can! But what a shuffle for the minor places. Di Maggio steals second from van der Hugenhaben in some kind of a close photo finish. For the fourth place...
... Froome just holds on to cross the line in front of Kinoshita within a blink of an eye. Flügel surely finishes disappointed on place 6.
For the minor places...
...the race was incredibly close. Palini took the final sprint, leaving Bilbao, Gautier and Kratochvila up the final Top10 places.
Leaving this race with disappointment will be mostly the trio of Ulissi, McCarthy and Vogt. Also Zaini won't be happy with his fade at the end, but at least they got some compensation.
The most glorious achievement of the day, the laterne rouge, goes to...
... Victor Renäng. He fought well to come in over 5 minutes down on his toughest opponent.
I'm sure the win is glorious enough for a long partynight at Indosat - ANZ, cause Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz has delivered them one of the sweetest victories in their recent history!
This will be our final picture for this pcm.daily coverage, upcoming are the results of todays race:
Sweden 
