Greig Leach

All of the valiant efforts to surprise the sprinters and their teams, yet again, came to naught. As the peloton swung through the final turn having gone under the flame rouge, it was Katusha who hit the front for their sprinter, Alexander Kristoff. Tucked onto the Norwegian's wheel were many of the other contenders including, Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEdge), Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) and John Debenkolb (Giant Alpecin). It seemed like it was going to be Kristoff's day with about 300 meters left of a very, very long day.