Maybe the last opportunity for anyone that wants to take the yellow jersey away from Hermans. 2 climbs on the last part of the race and a uphill finish should be the perfect place for an decisive attack
On the first climb of the day the breakaway group was already made: Sawada, Hincapie, Lequatre, Serov, Sutton and Rajala. The climb was won by Hincapie, with Serov and Sutton taking the other places on the podium
After the climb the group was joined by Creed and Dempster, which means that there is going to be a 8 riders breakaway for today’s stage
Ikea, Starbucks, Wiggle and 100% Me are leading the pack behind the breakaway, which means that Flugel, Visconti, Hermans and Roche have big plans for today
With 80 kilometres left Crane made a pointless attack
Still he managed to stay in front for 20 kilometres before he has caught by a pack moving very fast behind the breakaway
The escapes start the second climb of the day with 3 minutes advantage, which means that they might have a chance for the stage win today
Serov was first at the top, followed by Lequatre and Rajala
Bosiso and Valjavec attacked from the pack right at the end of the climb, chasing the down the escapes now
Even though he is a better downhiller Valjavec has problems keeping it up with Bosisio on the downhill
On the last climb Flugel and Visconti attacked to bring Valjavec back in the pack, while Bosisio and the escapes still have a little advantage left
At the top Serov was again first, followed by Lequatre and Hincapie
Rajala lost the contact with the other escapes on the climb and he is now in the chasing group with Visconti, Flugel and Bosisio
Voganov also attacked from the pack and he is trying to catch the other favourites on the downhill
With 15 left from the stage Visconti, Rajala, Bosisio and Flugel caught the breakaway group
Bosisio, Flugel and Visconti were way stronger than the other riders in that group and soon they countinued the race in three
Feelling that he could lose the yellow jersey today Hermans attacked
Delage and Cassidy were right after him
Another 3 riders also attacked: Trusov, Szczawinski and Bertogliati
Only Trusov and Vorganov were able to catch up with breaway group though
Soon they also got away from there trying to catch Visconti, Bosisio and Flugel
Behind them Hermans and the others finally managed to join the breakaway group, with Roche also coming there
All the escapes, except Hincapie, couldn’t continu in the favourites group and they were caught by the pack. Bertogliati, Hermans, Roche, Hincapie and Delage are now the second chasing group behind Visconti’s group, who is at the moment the virtual leader of the race
Bosisio has problems staying with Flugel and Visconti as they reached the final 3 kilometres
Vorganov was too strong for Trusov and he is now the main chaser of the leaders
Trusov is almost caught by Hermans’ group, with the pack also being pretty close
With Bosisio already lost the contact on the final uphill, Flugel doesn’t seem strong enough to keep it up with Visconti either
And Visconti takes the queen stage of FBD Insurance Ras. Flugel is second, same time with Visconti
Visconti lost more than a half of minute in the final kilometers but he managed to hang on to the third place
Vorganov was caught by Roche and Hermans on the last hill, with the pack coming right after them
No doubt that Visconti is the new leader. Second today, Flugel is also second in the overall rankings, with the previous leader, Hermans, only third now
