On paper not the hardest stage, the riders made it a brutal one. The first uphill part was a perfect launch pad for attacks and several groups tried to go clear from the bunch. But it took over 100km until six riders distanced themselves from the peloton.
On the last climb with about 20km remaining the group was caught and M. Soler gave it a go, later countered by R. Evenepoel and P. Roglic. These actions made the first bunch quite small. When the front duo was caught it was K. Groves took the sprint from a heavily reduced bunch.
From the finish line
„It was a really hard day. Actually, a battle until 10km to go. The sprint than wasn’t too easy as nobody really controlled.” Ide Schelling”
Results
01 K. Groves 3:50:32
02 B. Coquuard +0:00
03 I. Schelling +0:00
