Vincenzi Nibali is the reason for the fast start - the Italian is in a big escape and will take some sprint-bonuses, reducing his deficit to Wiggins to just four-seconds...
There's also a climbing battle in the escape - between Matteo Montaguti and David Moncoutié...
Amets Txurruka has been working all afternoon at the head of the escape - and they still have almost three minutes lead...
It's become a desperate chase by Leopard, Shack and Astana to reduce the gap and defend their top-ten places overall - but they'll claw but valuable time by the finish...