The peloton are in no mood to let an early break get away with several attempts foiled.
The pack is still together till the first intermediate sprint. Castenada wins ahead of Appolonio and Roelandts.
eBuddy and Carrefour continue to close attacks down even after the sprint point!
Finally four riders are allowed to get away. They are: McCutcheon Svab Morey Ostergaard
Svab wins the first intermediate sprint ahead of McCutcheon and Ostergaard.
The gap is now 5'31" and increasing.
95 km remain. Volvo have now joined eBuddy and Carrefour in the pace-making. The gap was up beyond 8 minutes at the maximum. It is now hovering around 6 minutes.
Ostergaard wins the second intermediate sprint. Svab and McCutcheon go through next.
The break's lead is down to 2'33".
Svab wins the second KOM sprint too and confirms the jersey overnight. McCutcheon and Ostergaard pick up the next positions.
30 km to go. 1'56" is the gap.
Morey is tired and gets dropped with 20 km remaining.
T-Mobile have also joined the chase surprisingly. Not sure McCutcheon will be too pleased!
Morey is caught with 16 km remaining. The break has about a minute's lead.
10 km to go. The break hold a small 23" advantage.
McCutcheon is dropped 2 km later and gets swept up by the pack.
Ostergaard too is dropped and caught with 6 km remaining.
3 km left. Looking back from Svab. Carrefour have their train on the right, with Volvo on the left.
Svab is caught half a kilometer later.
1.5 km. Both trains are down to the last leadout rider (Li for Vanderbiest, Bertilsson for Ahlstrand) with Volvo in a better position.
Roelandts - Grosu - Appolonio - Lavoine - Granjel Cabrera is the order behind Ahlstrand.
Castenada - Houle - Croket is the order behind Vanderbiest.
Bertilsson goes off as Ahlstrand launches under the kite. Roelandts is the best placed to challenge. The Carrefour train has come off worse after the corner.
Here's how the sprint looks with 500 meters remaining:
Ahlstrand
Roelandts
Grosu
Appolonio
Lavoine
Granjel Cabrera
Vanderbiest
Castenada
Reinhardt
Bertilsson
Houle
Croket
Gaviria
300 meters. Ahlstrand holds the advantage with Grosu closing in.
Grosu is almost level with Roelandts as we enter the final 100 meters. Appolonio is also making up ground.
Ahlstrand wins! Roelandts holds on for 2nd ahead of Grosu.
Appolonio is 4th, ahead of Lavoine and Granjel Cabrera.
Vanderbiest will be disappointed with only 7th. Castenada, Houle and Reinhardt complete the Top 10.
Today's winner - Jonas Ahlstrand.
Ahlstrand repeats his win in the first stage from last season and takes the overnight GC lead. Osteragaard and Svab get into the Top 10 after their breakaway exploits, with the latter also leading the KOM and the U25 classifications.
