The Classics

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The two riders who have now built up a 10 second lead on the field are Van den Broeck and Vermote.

 

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The two chasers are now at 1:43 down, with the field at 2:09. Several other riders are trying to catch VDB and Vermote.

 

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65 kms to go

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Lotto is desperate for some results after a drought since Tour Down Under in Jan

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Many small groups now underway, with the peloton at 1:34 down.

 

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The group of two is being chased by a group of four: Serry, Ghyselinck, Vanoverberghe and Alaphilippe.

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The chase group is now a foursome, with lots of good news for Quick Step,as three of the rider are theirs: Vermote, Alaphilippe and Serry. they have 1:42, and their looks like the air has gone out of the peloton which is 2:01 back.

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Two of the chasing QuickSteppers have a little chat, probably trying to figure how they can drop that pesky guy in the red jersey.

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59 kms to go

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UnitedHealthcare's Marc de Maar takes off out of the field.

 

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With 56 km to go, the gaps are 1:17 and 1:55.

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Once again we have multiple groups trying to break from the peloton.

 

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De Maar is back in the field.

 

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Lotto is aware of their one man alone amongst the OPQS group, and is leading the chase to get up there and support him.

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With just under 50km to go the gaps are 38 seconds and 1:12

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The situation is very fluid at the moment, with Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) now trying to get across with an OPQS rider.