The hardest stage of the race, and surely where the overall race will be decided, with a number of climbs on offer - with the hardest left to the very end.
And with the mid-stage Cat 2 climbs offering 10 points each, it is an enticing day to be in the breakaway too.
There are 9 in here:
Anders Ekh Dahlberg
Telia-Brussels Airlines
Pedro Sequera
Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo
Mauro Finetto
Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes
Shaun Lewis
Eddie Stobart
Hussein Manfred
The Balkan Cycling Project
Peter Stetina
Azteca-NBCSN
Thomas Peterson
Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack
Geremie Nzeke
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
Carlos Baltazar
Andorra Cycling Project
Stetina is 6th on 14 KoM points, Lewis is 7th on 13, and Nzeke is 8th on 11. The best placed rider on GC is Finetto, 25th at 6'31. And it's four breakaways in a row for the Kenyan Manfred!
A few flat circuits at the start allow them to build a lead of 2'30 but it might not be so straight forward for them. Repsol have been the team above all others to really try to make the climbs hard in this race, and now they have the race lead, so all the more reason to do so. Prado sets a strong pace, cutting the gap to 1'40.
Manfredi (KoM 14th, 6 points) senses an opportunity and attacks across to the breakaway, and then is integral in splitting the breakaway up near the first points summit. He crosses first to pick up 10 points, with Lewis taking 8 for second place. The gap to the peloton up to 4 minutes at the top, so the Italian certainly timed his move well.
On the descent, four riders recover up to Manfredi. Lewis of course, plus Dahlberg, Peterson and Baltazar. Surprisingly not Stetina!
It all kicks off again 2km from the summit, and Manfredi rides off for another 10 points, taking him to 26. Crucially though, Lewis is 2nd again and the Eddie Stobart rider moves into the KoM lead, on 29 points.
So Manfredi must now survive until the next Cat 4 climb, and stays on his own in a bid to achieve this. With 15km to the finish, and around 5km to that climb, he is two minutes clear of Lewis and Dahlberg, with a 4 minute lead on the peloton.
That peloton is down to 48 riders, with Cieslik having chipped in to help out Repsol. 16th overall Roman has been dropped, as has 19th overall Sonnery and 22nd overall Lemus Davila - who also is 2nd place in the U25 competition. His teammate Pereyra leads 3rd place Ahmad Zamri by 2'41 though, so Aeropostal are still looking strong there.
With his name on the road, and a fairly anonymous Stage 7 to build on, Pierre Paolo Penasa attacks the peloton, toward the top of an uncategorised hill.
Rather than the response of fellow competitors, he will be disappointed to see that his attack only drew domestiques from Reddit, Campari, Philips, Repsol and Telia to create a fast riding chasing train in the peloton. But on the other hand, he is able to start gaining time on the group.
Into the final 10km and we have reached the next KoM point. Manfredi wins again, moving to 31 points.
And in a critical moment in the competition, Dahlberg cracks Lewis to take 2nd place. Only one point for the Australian, so he moves to 30 points.
So the lead goes to Manfredi, and he will take the classification victory unless Bardet or Valls can win the stage. And at this stage, he still fancies his own chances there!
Very interesting move developing from the peloton though, through the KoM point. Battaglin riding on the front, with leader Bardet on his wheel - and they get a gap. 2nd overall is now making a play for the race victory, with only 7 seconds to make up on Valls.
He now looks to ride up to Penasa, with 4 steep kilometres still to climb.
And in that peloton, the next round of moves is being launced by Mannion, Destribois, Anton, De Marchi, Pozzovivvo, Anacona, and Moschella.
Valls is a little slow to respond but now follows Diaz. Cataldo still content to let his teammates do the work. And interesting to note that it is Moschella who has led the attacks for Aeropostal today, despite Atapuma having finished 4th and gained a small amount of time yesterday.
Up front Manfredi has reached 2km to go, but his lead drops to 1 minute for the first time ahead of Penasa and Bardet, now riding together.
Then it is 24 seconds to Mannion and Anacona; 24 more to Pozzovivo, Moschella and Anton; then 25 more back to the peloton with the other contenders.
Mannion and Anacona ride up to Penasa and Bardet, while behind them Anton drops back - replaced by Valls and Cataldo, now launching their attacks. Later than the rest, but might just work out for them as they join Pozzovivo and Moschella.
And now a bad turn of events for Team Reddit. Manfredi has been caught by Mannion, Penasa and Bardet, but not teammate Anacona, who has cracked!
So it is Mannion who leads Bardet and Penasa into the final kilometre. They may have started their moves earlier, but are still the favourites - with Bardet poised to take the race lead.
Not that Valls is out of it yet! With Cataldo, Moschella and Pozzovivo they are not far behind Anacona and the leaders.
Looking further back, Atapuma and Diaz lead the next group, with Solis moving forwards.
With gradients exceeding 10%, the final kilometre is the hardest of the climb. And now Anacona is riding back into contention! They all seem to be struggling now.
But Mannion has the strength to attack! His powerful climbing is not at an end yet, look at the American go!
Here come Valls and Cataldo. They've saved their energy for the hardest part, as Valls has brought back the challenge from Bardet.
But has a new threat slipped away from him?
It's an inspiring ride from Gavin Mannion as he secures Azteca's 2nd win of the race, and the first win of his career! He was amongst those starting the stage 48 seconds behind Valls, and this is going to be very close indeed.
Cataldo pulls through to win the sprint for 2nd ahead of Valls. That will confirm Manfredi as the KoM winner, but the stop watches are going to need to be assessed for the race lead - it is very close between Mannion and Valls. They've lost 37 seconds to Mannion - but there's time bonuses to consider as well.
Pozzovivvo had the strength left to take 4th at 53 seconds, ahead of Penasa, Bardet and Anacona. Penasa and Bardet have to be commended for their efforts, but could not hold it to the line. A flying final kilometre sees Solis appear from nowhere to take 8th, ahead of our KoM winner Manfredi.
Atapuma would come through for 10th, after teammate Moschella faded in the end. Diaz, Rujano, Hacecky, Salinas and Khripta finishing with them.
3rd overall Anton really struggled in the closing stages, ending 2'12 behind Mannion - he will finish outside of the Top 10. A disappointing finish for De Marchi too, but Khripta has ensured a Telia rider in the Top 10 of GC, and De Marchi is the 3rd rider of the team to finish - with no sign yet of the 3rd Aeropostal or Balkan rider.
Ahmad Zamri does his best in the U25 fight, but it's not going to be enough, with Pereyra visible in the back of the shot. Aeropostal's Argentinian does enough to keep the U25 jersey, but not enough for the Teams classification. Telia will overtake Aeropostal for the lead, by just 3 seconds!
And the general classification itself? Mannion is the new race leader, just one second ahead of Valls! The Spaniard does have the Points jersey lead now, and this race is going to go into the final stage with all still to ride for.
Bardet slips to 3rd but manages to stay 1 second ahead of Cataldo, 32 and 33 seconds behind. Penasa is 5th at 1'05, then Pozzovivo and Anacona are at 1'13. Atapuma, Diaz and Khripta rounding out the Top 10.
