The race so far has mainly favoured the cobbles specialists and those who like the flat roads. The punchers finally have their time to shine. But is it too late for them perhaps? The best of the favourites for this stage is de Bie, who is more than seven minutes down in the GC! Among the contenders, van Avermaet is the best puncher along with Boom, and those two will be looking to launch a challenge on Bewley's top spot.
61 km/hr winds greet us on this decisive stage of this race!
Two riders join the early break - Sulimov (GC 28th) and Andriafenomananiaina.
They are soon joined by Stoltz, Arissol, Vastaranta, Porte, Ferreira (Porto - Prio)(KOM 2nd, 49 points) and Jacobs (KOM 3rd, 28 points).
A lot of KOM points are available today.
Vastaranta wins the first of those sprints ahead of Andriafenomananiaina, Sulimov, Stoltz and Arissol.
Ferreira (Porto - Prio) has been dropped from the break on the climb but recovers later.
Arissol wins the first intermediate sprint. Porte is 2nd. Stoltz is 3rd.
Vastaranta wins the second KOM sprint. Andriafenomananiaina and Sulimov follow him through.
Ferreira (Porto - Prio) is dropped again, and recovers, again.
There's a big crash involving Schlecter, Sinkeldam (GC 29th), Morizot, Senechal (GC 24th), Laengen, Bilbao, Brynjolfsson, Zmorka (Porto - Prio), Manninen, Avelino (Porto - Prio), Aberasturi, Bolivar, Tolleson and Nurmi.
Luckily, they can all rejoin the race.
Vastaranta wins the third KOM sprint too. Andriafenomananiaina is second again followed by Sulimov, Porte and Stotlz. The break's lead is 6'36".
Jacobs and Ferreira (Porto - Prio) are both dropped this time. This time for good.
The crashed riders make it back to the pack.
The first group of riders have been dropped from the peloton. No big names are here.
Ferreira (Porto - Prio) is caught by the peloton with 83 km to go. Jacobs is caught 10 km later.
More riders are dropped. Vanmarcke (GC 26th), Stallaert (GC 44th) and Gastaeur are among those in this group. Almost the entire Vesuvio team have fallen back to pace their leaders.
Vastaranta wins full points yet again at the next climb. Andriafenomananiaina, Porte, Stoltz and Sulimov is order behind.
The Vanmarcke group has made it back.
Kuulpi and Zepuntke (GC 46th) are among the riders dropped next.
More and more riders are shed by the peloton.
Daniel (GC 32nd) is among them.
Arissol, Stoltz, Sulimov is the order past the second intermediate sprint.
Vanmarcke and Senechal are dropped again!
And now it's Boros (GC 33rd), Zhupa (GC 38th) and Sinkeldam (GC 29th) that follow suit.
Potts (GC 18th) is among those dropped next.
Wind speeds are up to past 65 km/hr now!
Laporte (GC 28th) can't keep up.
Stallaert is dropped again along with riders like Selvaggi and Weber.
Up ahead, what's left of the peloton has split. Lander, Blythe, McCarthy, Gastaeur, Vermeltfoort, Gerts (GC 4th), Vakoc, Bilbao, Furdi and Coppel are those in the latter group.
And it's Vastaranta again. Stoltz and Sulimov pick up the remaining points as the break now split too.
The situation with 18 km to go:
E1 -> Vastaranta
E2 (43" ) -> Stoltz, Sulimov
E3 (1'14" ) -> Porte
E4 (1'50" ) -> Andriafenomananiaina, Arissol
Peloton (2'8" ) -> Peloton (increased in size to 41). Gerts is back.
Arissol and Andriafenomananiaina are caught with 17 km to go.
Vanspeybrouck (GC 16th) is dropped.
The gap between Vastaranta and Sulimov/ Stoltz is increasing as they reach the 10 km banner.
Porte is back in the pack with 8 km to go.
The situation is: E1 --(55" )--> E2 --(2'18" )--> Peloton (41 riders)
6 km. Boom attacks with Bewley countering just as the peloton catch Stoltz and Sulimov.
Boom drops Bewley who already looks to be suffering. Are we witnessing the handing over of the race lead here?
5 km to go. Vastaranta holds a 45" lead to a charging Boom, who is the virtual race leader on the road.
Kelderman and Bakelants attack the pack and have nearly caught up to Bewley.
3.5 km left. Boom has caught Vastaranta, who wins the final intermediate KOM as well! Bakelants has dropped Kelderman and Bewley and is the next rider on the road.
McCarthy, Dzamastagic, De Bie, Summerhill, Gerts, Thurau, Van Avermaet, Vakoc, Degenkolb, Stoltz, Polnicky and Saber form the fourth group on the road. They trail the lead pair by 2'10".
E5 is Kristoff, Howard and Sulimov. The next group, visible in the background, is the peloton.
2 km to go. Bewley is actually gapping Kelderman! He is not giving up on this without a fight.
We're at the Flamme Rouge and Boom has dropped Vastaranta. Bakelants is closing in the latter now. Bewley has dropped Kelderman for good!
And Boom wins! perfectly timed attack from the Aegon rider on both the stage and the GC.
Incredibly, Bewley has caught back up to those ahead of him with 400 meters to go.
Bakelants has enough of a final kick to take 2nd ahead of Bewley.
Vastaranta has ridden an amazing stage to be 4th!
Kelderman holds on to 5th. de Bie is 6th. Summerhill is 7th. McCarthy ran out of steam and settles for 8th.
Van Avermaet might be a little disappointed to finish 10th behind teammate Dzamastagic, given the riders who finished ahead of him. The effort from the Stage 4 stage win might just have caught up to him here.
Saber is 11th.
Gerts is 12th.
Thurau caps off a great day for Aegon with 13th.
Degenkolb, Polnicky, Vakoc and Stoltz ride past the line together next and in that order.
Howard leads the peloton home.
Today's winner and new GC leader - Lars Boom.
What a way for Boom to take the lead in the GC. Bewley fought till the end, even out-muscling stronger punchers on the final climb but it just wasn't enough. Van Avermaet moves up to 3rd as he gains time on Gerts and Kristoff. The latter falls three spots, even behind Summerhill to 7th. Perhaps the ride of the race and one of the best of the season comes from Vastaranta who took 74 KOM points from this stage! That is just 1 short of Vermeltfoort's tally at the top of that standing. Andriafenomananiaina is 4th in the KOM race. Bewley extends his lead a the top of the Points standings. Boom moves into 6th place in the same. Gerts is sitting pretty in the U25s.
