It was a strong day by the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team who used numbers and power to capture a strong win as Fausto Masnada dealt a big blow in the overall fight.
It wasn't a day for the breakaway, with the short stage not fitting for the escapees Julen Irizar (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Samuele Zoccaratto (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) and Czech national champion Michael Kukrle (Gazprom-Rusvelo). Well before the final sequence of the climbs they were caught as the peloton saw a move by DSM and some splits, followed by an attack by Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl's Mauro Schmid. The Swiss took Søren Kragh Andersen, Marco Canola, Antoine Duchesne and Jonas Iversby Hvideberg with him and built a small gap, later going solo on his own in the final ascent, with Arkéa - Samsic's Kevin Vauquelin then taking control of the race.
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On the final climb a series of attacks saw the GC split once again containing the main favourites with Anthon Charmig resisting. On the descent Fausto Masnada got in the front of the group and took the head of the race after Vauquelin was caught, he got a gap and couldn't be chased back by the chasing group.
Schmid played a crucial role in deorganizing the chase, and the Italian managed to extend his gap and take over the lead of the race. He won 1:07 minutes over the chasing group lead by Mauro Schmid and Kevin Vauquelin who took the remaining bonus seconds.
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