The day began with a flurry of attacks from all quarters, as riders with the foreknowledge of significant losses over the cobblestones sought to build up a buffer beforehand; or perhaps dream of a surprise victory over a sleepy peloton. Unfortunately for the lot of them, there was too much interest for the big teams to ignore, and so Tinkoff, Grieg-Maersk, Amaysim, and GCN made sure to equalise everything. The presence of their teammates might be an early indicator that the likes of Kamyshev, Senechal, Wisniowski, Summerhill, and Blythe might be feeling good today.

Inevitably, with nobody to chase the pace dropped and once more we saw riders move on to the attack. This time the initial move would stick, joined by handfuls of riders bridging their way across. Still, the same teams as before rode at the front; they looked to be keeping the escapees on a tight leash.

Although a variety of teams worked to keep the breakaway in check on the tarmac, once the peloton hit the cobbled section is was all Gunnar Dahl-Olsen. The rouleur's power was enough to force splits in the peloton, in addition to bringing back most of the escapees. Already the Grieg-Maersk domestiques showing their value.

The significant number of riders caught out included Gaday, Owen, Boros, Karatzios, and Rowe. Centrone and Kosic wer chasing at the head of Group Karatzios; Waeytens, Owen, Boros, and Sanogo took turns leading Group Gaday.

Despite their best efforts, for a good few kilometres it didn't look like they were going to make any progress. The domestique pair of Doull and Dahl-Olsen were keeping the pace hot. The stalemate was eventually broken once Gaday decided to close the gap himself.

It seemed that nobody was willing to let the tempo drop for a moment, as no sooner had everything come back together than Salzmann and Gaday were on the attack. His time chasing the peloton had done nothing to temper the Argentinian's eagerness, evidently he felt he had the best legs of his career. Setting off after them a handful of kilometres later were Owen and Boros; the American another rider who had earlier been dropped!

This group certainly attracted the attention of the peloton, with two big names in Kamyshev and Sulimov taking to the front. Still, even their pace wasn't high enough for some, as Menten attacked with van der Hoorn on his wheel.

The group of Gaday, Boros, and Owen would succumb first to efforts of Callum Scotson. Then it was over to Patrick Naud to chase down van der Hoorn. Finally, Alexander Sulimov captured Menten.

What is the best time to launch an attack? According to Centrone it is just as the previous one is being brought back! The Luxembourger was joined by Ringheim, as the pair looked to bridge across to the remainder of the breakaway.

Their prospects looked good intially, the gap grew to more than a minute as they caught and passed a fading Kurianov. Then Sulimov jumped on the front, and the time displayed at the top of the screen rapidly started falling. Ringheim would attack his companions, which by this point included the final breakaway rider: Erdenesuren.

It was a clever tactic from the wily Norwegian, as it forced Tinkoff to keep chasing, burning matches they might've preferred to save for closing down the favourites. Instead, with just sixty kilometres and two laps of the cobbled sections to go, a group of just over thirty riders remained at the front.

The race was quickly approaching the business end at this point. The first chasing group included Young, Sanogo, and Meiler. Further down the road were Centrone, Karatzios, and Rowe. None of them were likely to come back, as Summerhill was already taking to the front on the cobbles, testing the legs of his competitors.

It was Teunissen who would blink first however, attacking just prior to yet another set of cobbles. On his wheel were Bewley, Theuns, Gerts, and Debesay. Kasperkiewicz was slow to respond, leaving a gap that he would have to close down. Doing so was enough to dislodge the pair of Kamyshev and Sulimov; a bad sign for Tinkoff, although the still had Senechal up front.

With the danger averted, the pace slowed once more, allowing Kamyshev to make his way back to a Pedersen & Scotson led peloton. He was fortunate to do so, as Summerhill again bumped up the tempo over the cobbles, putting pressure onto his competitors. There was a panicky moment where it looked like Senechal was going to let a group of six just ride away from him, but the Frenchman closed the gap and came through to take a pull. He was joined by Moulingui, as the pair pulled hard, reducing the group to just 19.

With just one more lap across the cobbles remaining, and a distinct lack of an organised chase, these are the 19 riders who will compete for victory:

Kamyshev	Senechal	Wisniowski	Pedersen
Ferreira	Teunissen	Summerhill	Gerts
Kasperkiewicz	Bewley	Altur	Blythe
Per	Debesay	Theuns	Hnik
Tiller	Polanc	Van Hooydonck

Pedersen brought us into the start of the cobblestones, but he moved over to allow Wisniowski to increase the pace. The first out the back were Van Hooydonck and Senechal; they were joined by Pedersen and Kasperkiewicz a moment later.

As the group emerged from the paves, Teunissen stood up on his peddles and launched a second, much more dangerous, attack. Perhaps surprisingly, Wisniowski sat up and let him go; forcing Ferreira and Debesay to take up the chase. This would prove too much for Hnik, who dropped from the front group.

Teunissen's attack would last all of five kilometres, being brought back before the next round of cobbles. His gap peaked at just over twenty seconds.

Bewley made to surge as the favourites entered the penultimate pavés, but with a glance over his shoulde revealing no evidence of a gap he dropped to a steady pace. Although he couldn't escape the others, he did dislodge Polanc, who would steadily drop back from this point onwards.

Instead it was Gerts who launched the next attack, with Teunissen on his wheel. Debesay, Per, and Wisniowski also managed to find themselves on the right side of the initial split.

However, Wisniowski would drop Teunissen's wheel, and Per his; leaving the attack fragmented. Easy pickings for Altur, who brought back the Debesay and the Slovenian.

This left the trio of Wisniowski, Gerts, and Teunissen ahead of the chasing group.

The leading trio were cooperating well, each taking turns pulling as they worked to stay ahead of those behind. If they made it to the finish, then Wisniowski would be the favourite, although Gerts might've done less work than the other two. Teunissen, probably only riding for the podium then; but he'd almost certainly do worse if everything came back together.

After having been brought back when Altur tried to close down the initial move, Per was the first to take up chasing duties. Rasmus Tiller would join him as they made their across the final stretch of cobblestones. The duo couldn't match the strength of the leaders, and the gap ballooned out to around thirty seconds.

Then the games began, with neither Teunissen nor Gerts willing to work for Wisniowski. They weren't going to be satisfied with a podium - they wanted to win. Although the gap stopped growing, it also didn't start shrinking.

With less than five kilometres remaining, Kasperkiewicz and Blythe elected to take big pulls at the front of the chasing group. At the potential expense of their efforts come the sprint, they succeeded in bringing back the escapees with just over two kilometres remaining.

With the group brought back together so late on, and the pace already extremely high, there was little maneuvering possible before the sprint began. Kasperkiewicz, Gerts, Teunissen, and Wisniowski were all positioned up front. Behind them there was a long line of riders: Blythe, Bewley, Tiller, Per, Theuns, Summerhill, Altur, Debesay, Kamyshev.

With less than five hundred metres remaining, the road took a sharp turn left. Kasperkiewicz and Wisniowski were the first to approach it, on the inside and outside lines respectively. A bike length behind them were the Dutch pair of Gerts and Teunissen, occupying the centre. Another half-bike-length back were Blythe and Bewley; again on the inside and outside respectively. Only Theuns, Tiller, Per were within reach of this group; from whom the winner would almost certainly appear. Positioning in the final moments of the chase appeared to have been vital.

Kasperkiewicz was comprimised by his tighter line, and struggled to get back up to speed while Wisniowski carried his momentum around the outside. The Pole might've been a shoe-in for victor if it wasn't Bewley rapidly approaching on his inside. The Kiwi had come into the corner hotter, held his speed well through the turn, and was now putting his famous sprint to good use. He took the win with a throw at the line.

The fight for the final podium spot was similarly tight. Blythe had taken a similar line to Kasperkiewicz, but was able to use his stronger acceleration to come alongside. Teunissen followed vary nearly closed off Bewley through the corner, but was able to avoid an entanglement; he came out of it with much more momentum than the other two. Kasperkiewicz's better start would prove pivotal, as he edged into third.