Seeing if they could surprise the sprint trains and take a breakaway win were Filippo Ridolfo (Team Novo Nordisk), Emil Dima (Sofer Savini Due OMZ) and Daniel Turek (ATT Investments).
With just under 30km to go the breakaway's day out was all but over and the focus of the peloton turned towards preparing for the almost inevitable bunch sprint finish. Refusing to give up without a fight however, the leaders continued to battle on.
Just before the catch was complete though there was a big crash at the back of the peloton with many riders hitting the deck hard. Including Damien Howson who looked to be in some serious pain.
With the wet roads causing yet more chaos, another crash at the back of the peloton happened and suddenly the gap between the bunch and the leaders was back up at 20 seconds.
Finally, with 12.3km to go the catch was complete.
As the sprint trains began to take complete control at the front of the race there was plenty of shoulders being thrown as the battle for position took place.
In the sprint it was Caleb Ewan who took the front first but Fabio Jakobsen would not be denied again as the European Champion powered his way to victory ahead of
Phil Bauhaus who came home second.