Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Michal Kwiatkowski accelerated with 10km in hopes of bridging to a three-rider break up the road, but that breakaway stayed away after some hectic final kilometers of aggressiveness in winds and rain that split the peloton into pieces.
Jan Bakelants (Belgium) and Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) ultimately decided the stage out of the trio of riders in front, getting a gap on former break mate Mathias Frank (BMC Racing Team) after an attack with 1.4km to go. Bakelants took the best line in a technical left turn just meters before the finish line that gave him the race victory. Voeckler and Frank were 2nd and 3rd. Kwiatkowski finished 5th, 18" back from the race winner. Sylvain Chavanel also finished 8th.
OPQS did a fantastic job picking up the pace when they sensed the winds, causing big gaps in the peloton.