
With yesterday’s mountain top finish behind them, today’s stage on paper would offer the chance for the sprinters to do battle in the finale but with a tricky climb cresting at almost half way into the day, there was intrigue amongst fans and the peloton alike whether some teams would push the pace or not.
Nonetheless, it was a relatively calm start to the day and a five rider break established itself out front within the opening ten kilometres, with all Team DSM riders settling into the bunch. The group out front built up a lead of around four minutes where it held steady. On the opening slopes of the climb it seemed as if the bunch was content with the situation but after a few kilometres some teams came to the front and upped the pace, distancing some sprinters and other riders, including Nico Denz.
The rest of the squad made it over the climb in the now reduced peloton, where the pace remained high as other sprint teams looked to break the will of those dropped. Eventually the chase from behind was stopped and things calmed down, albeit only for a short period, before the fight for position began in the bunch. The team moved forward en masse, holding the right hand side of the road as the kilometres ticked down. Heading into the technical finale, the guys swung off one-by-one, with Romain Bardet doing a pull inside the closing two kilometres to position last lead out man Cees Bol with finisher Alberto Dainese in his wheel. Under the kite, Bol put the power down and brought Dainese up from deep, with the Italian producing a good turn of speed and finishing fast to claim seventh place in a close finale.
Pos. | Rider | Team | Time | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | DÉMARE Arnaud | Groupama - FDJ | 4:03:56 | 100 |
2 | GAVIRIA Fernando | UAE Team Emirates | ,, | 40 |
3 | NIZZOLO Giacomo | Israel - Premier Tech | ,, | 20 |
7 | DAINESE Alberto | Team DSM | ,, | - |
43 | BOL Cees | Team DSM | ,, | - |
50 | ARENSMAN Thymen | Team DSM | ,, | - |
52 | BARDET Romain | Team DSM | ,, | - |
101 | TUSVELD Martijn | Team DSM | 0:40 | - |
139 | HAMILTON Chris | Team DSM | 2:10 | - |
140 | COMBAUD Romain | Team DSM | ,, | - |
163 | DENZ Nico | Team DSM | 11:57 | - |