The Classics

['Dale]

Phinney is out of the race, according to reports with the American off to hospital for checks

['Dale]

 

74km to go, the gap at 55 seconds.

 

['Dale]

And over the top of the climb and this time it's Omega who split the field. Riders are scrambling to make it to the group but there are so many tired legs out there. Omega are trying to weaken as many sprinters as possible here.

['Dale]

 

 

The four leaders have just 23 seconds.

 

['Dale]

The four leaders have just 10 seconds as Vansummeren takes a turn and brings them a little bit closer.

['Dale]

There's around 15-20 seconds between the Boonen/Vanmarcke group and the chase behind..

['Dale]

And Belkin and Omega have the numbers here. Can they work together?

['Dale]

Belkin have men in the main chase group and they're just trying to slow things down.

['Dale]

Vanmarcke is there for Belkin and Boonen for Omega as this small group chases the leaders. Lotto, Sky and BMC have to chase this one down.

['Dale]

There's still a long way to go but this could be pivotal in the outcome of the race.

['Dale]

The first break has been caught and now the lead between the Boonen/Vanmarcke group to the peloton is 42 seconds.

['Dale]

 

And it's Stannard who is setting the pace in the bunch but he's not getting much help at the moment. Lotto have missed the split with Greipel nicely tucked in. There's no reason to panic just yet but they need to start working.

['Dale]

64km to go and the gap is at 44 seconds.

['Dale]

The leading group consists of Tom Boonen, Stijn Vandenbergh, Matteo Trentin, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Sep Vanmarcke, Moreno Hofland, Maarten Wynants (Belkin), Johan Vansummeren (Garmin-Sharp), Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Michael Vingerling (Team 3M).

['Dale]

The leaders are climbing and the gap is at 48 seconds so the bunch are holding it.

['Dale]

Boonen hasn't done a turn on the front but his team are working well together.