Onto the flat roads and the battle for the Green jersey. Pozzato v Cavendish v Boonen.
Boonen made a big step towards the jersey early on in the stage by winning the intermediate sprint. Crucuially, neither of his rivals scored as Farrar was 2nd and Pedersen 3rd
Mickael Delage went on a solo attack
Schwab, Weening, Geslin, Marzoli and Evans went after him - although Evans was dropped before contact was made
The breaks hopes didnt look good though - Eurosport and Warner Brothers are determined to bring it all back so their sprinters can try to take Green
With 3km to go, Kolsenikov leads Cooke, Ciolek and Veelers. Cavendish and Boonen are behind Pozzato but Pozzato is behind noone
But Ciolek is then ousted out of contention by Pozzato who takes the wheel of Cooke.
Bazayev looks to challenge for the win and get in the way of the Green jersey battle
But Pozzato powers ahead with Boonen battling to get alongside - theres a crash towards the back of the peleton. More on that shortly.
Filipo Pozzato wins! Boonen must settle for 2nd while Danilo di Luca is a surprise 3rd. Only in 5th, Mark Cavendish suffers a blow to his green jersey plans
Gadret, Mayo and Karpets were all involved in the crash caused by Leif Hoste. No time lost