Our breakaway of the day has been established! It's a Norwegian duo of Andreas Leknessund and Tore Andre Vabo. The only other riders who tried to make it where Beukeboom and Colleoni, but both quickly gave up hope.

We ought to show some love to the domestiques, so let's take a look at who is working at the front of the peloton. It was Michael O'Loughlin who controlled the size of the break, and he has more recently been joined by Evgenii Tikhonin and Jarrad Drizners.

It was Leknessund who took the maximum points at the first intermediate sprint. He took over pace setting a few kilometres earlier, and then timed his jump perfectly. Holding the inside line through the final corner, he was able to keep Vabo squarely behind him.

With only two riders in the breakaway, there were points on offer for the sprinters, and they were only too keen to get them. Our footage didn't capture much of the run in to the sprint, but it seemed that Crabbe - CC Chevigny and Glanbia Foods had assembled trains. Sam Bennett, Alexander Krieger, and Gabriel Marin, were the best placed as their leadouts swung off inside the final kilometre. Oscar Avelino was also present, but poorly positioned.

Oram swung right into the path of Krieger as he released Bennett, just slightly hampering the German champion as he ducked around the slowing rider. Jorgenson was unable to hold the pace, and Marin found himself being being boxed into the barriers, and was forced to check up in order to shift himself into the centre of the road

This gave Bennett all the advantage he needed. The Irishman held the inside line of the final right-hander and Krieger just didn't have enough to make it all the way around the outside. Marin found himself behind that pair, with a fast-finishing Avelino coming at the rear.

Plenty of hard riding done at the front of the peloton to bring the gap down to the Noregian breakaway. The familiar trio of O'Loughlin, Tikhonin, and Drizners began to bring the gap down, with Rojas joining them for a pull.

Vabo won the second intermediate sprint over Leknessund. He timed his sprint perfectly to round his countryman prior to the final bend, ensuring himself the inside line.

As the peloton closed in on the intermediate sprint the pace really started to pick up. Connor McConvey, Louis Blouwe, Stan an Tricht, and Eoin McCarthy came through in quick succession. They managed to bring gap down nearly half a minute within 5 kilometres, but their rapid pace prevented the creation of proper trains. Instead there was chaos.

Losch and Barbier were the most organised pair, with the Frenchman keeping his companion out of the wind from about 3000m to go. Second best were Drizners and Krieger; probably not the combination that their manager would have been wanting, but good work by the Aussie to offer some protection. Marin just about managed to hold on to Krieger's slipstream, so he had some protection as well.

Having lacked a third-man in his train, Losch was the first into the wind just as they went through the 1000m mark. Krieger latched on to his wheel, with Marin still trailing. Surprisingly, a fast moving Keough arrived from nowhere, rapidly ascending up the left side.

Losch would suffer from his early launch, and couldn't find any acceleration coming out of the final turn. Keough, despite having the inside line, had come from too far back to take the points. Instead it was Marin, timing his launch perfectly to squeeze between Keough and Krieger, robbing the German of the bonus points.

A number of riders took the front as the peloton looked to pull back the breakaway.

Drizners reduced the gap by 12 seconds. Barbier by another 8; his presence a surprise given his leadout credentials. Serry notched off 13", Lavery 6", McCarthy 10", and O'Loughlin 4".

As Glanbia and Crabbe - CC flooded the front in numbers, Vabo panicked and tried to go solo. It wasn't fated to be, as the breakaway was reeled in the by the combined efforts of the two teams.

The domestiques had worked hard all day, now all that was left was for the sprinters to live up to the expectations which had been placed on them.

The trains were set with 3000m of racing remaining.

On the left we have HelloFresh. They were the most advanced of the trio, but with only Gaspar left in front of him Vingerling's position was rather comprimised.

In the centre is Glanbia Foods. None of the lads laid out in front of Bennett are known as excellent sprinters, but they had numbers. If they could keep the engines churning for long enough then their main might be in with a shout.

On the right is Crabbe - CC Chevigny. They were the most disorganised, with Liepins going into the read in order to find Manakov's wheel. Krieger's train was certainly the most powerful, but it was also the worst positioned, and that deficit might've cost him dearly.

That is Manakov swinging off that you can spot in the top left corner, the absolute beast outmuscling not one but two Glanbia riders. However there are still 2000m to go, and both trains are down to their final leadout rider. If we've learnt anything from the intermediate sprints, its that you can't launch from over a kilometre out.

With Liepens done the trains were over and the sprint proper began. Oram couldn't hold a pace anything like his Latvian counterpart, leaving Bennett three bike-lengths down and having spent three hundred more metres in the wind.

Lavoine knew that he wouldn't be able to jump Krieger if he leaves it too late, and chose the same moment that the German was navigating past his leadout out to come swinging around the other side. Attached to his wheel is surprise package Jiang.

Oram decided that being an inadequate leadout wasn't enough, and figured that the best way to fix it was to disrupt the sprint of any- and everybody behind him. The worst hit are Marin and Keough. I don't doubt that they will be having some word with the Kiwi come the end of this one.

Lavoine looked for a moment like he might take the victory, but unfortunately his launch came a fair few hundred metres too early. Similarly, Krieger and Bennett
collapsed back into the pack.

Instead it was Oscar Avelino coming up the left, having started a long way back. Although initially on the rear of the sprint trains, the Portugeuse veteran had become somewhat dislodged by the chaos unfolding ahead of him. If you look back, you can spot him swinging out towards the barriers and beginning to motor his way forward. The others who took off at similar points in time were fading at this point, so many were questioning how much fuel was left in this man's afterburners.

That left Jiang as a possible contender for the stage win. The Chinese sprinter had selected his wheel very carefully, and benefitted from Lavoine's early launch. Now, he had finally pitched himself forward, ducking inside the Frenchman and hammering at his pedals.

Further back from this duo the likes of Keough, Vingerling, and Marin were coming up to speed after the earlier disruption.

What an exciting finish! Unfortunately, Jiang had already exhausted himself trying to follow faster riders, and was unable to launch his way into an amazing victory. Still, it came down to the wire.

Avelino was without a doubt completely done by the time he crossed the line. From the five hundred metre point pictured above to just 100m from the line, he lost multiple bikelengths to both Keough and Vingerling. If the race had been just a touch shorter, or he had resisted the urge to swing off for just a moment longer, then it could have been victory for Gjensidige. Instead they have to settle for third.

Vingerling had sufferred from an incredibly inadequate leadout. There isn't much point in the HellFresh domestiques burning all their matches if they aren't going to drop their sprinter off in a position where he can actually bring it home. For avoidance of doubt: three kilometres is not such a position. Despite his misfortune, Vingerling managed to recover an impressive second placing; even after some minor intereference from Oram.

Walking in the footsteps of the great Dan Holloway is one Luke Keough. He did everything right in this sprint; selecting a wheel that, if he had ridden it to its greatest extent, would have dropped him in a perfect position to secure victory. As happened to many others, his plans were disrupted by a rather poor decision by a certain leadout rider. However, Keough didn't let his head drop, he didn't give up, and, powering back up to speed, he came rocketing across the final few hundred metres to take today's stage win.