
The much anticipated cobbled stage awaited the peloton today, with 18 kilometres of pavé, spread over 11 sectors and packed into the latter third of today’s 157 kilometre long route from Lille to Wallers-Arenberg. It was a feisty start with a fight for the breakaway before eventually a six rider move snapped the elastic and went clear, with all Team DSM riders in the peloton. Working well as a group, the team stayed out of trouble and towards the front as the kilometres ticked down towards the first section and the nerves went up.
Upon hitting the first pavé sector things calmed down but from the second sector onwards the race was chaos. The team worked well together, moving up for the key moments with Romain Bardet, John Degenkolb, Andreas Leknessund and Alberto Dainese well to the fore, after some good work by the rest of the team. As the peloton surged over the cobbles mechanicals and bad luck befell many in the bunch, with Bardet and Degenkolb making the reduced peloton of around 30 riders with 35 kilometres to go. Unfortunately a crash saw both riders held up as the group split, and eventually they were caught by the yellow jersey group which included Dainese.
A fierce chase ensued over the remaining parcours, with Dainese and Degenkolb helping to contribute to the chase as they caught some groups in front of them. Ultimately, the original break would stay away to fight it out for the win with Dainese leading the team home in the “peloton” for 11th place, with Bardet and Degenkolb following in behind him within the group.
Pos. | Rider | Team | Time | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | CLARKE Simon | Israel - Premier Tech | 3:13:35 | 120 |
2 | VAN DER HOORN Taco | Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux | ,, | 50 |
3 | BOASSON HAGEN Edvald | TotalEnergies | 0:02 | 25 |
11 | DAINESE Alberto | Team DSM | 1:04 | - |
22 | DEGENKOLB John | Team DSM | ,, | - |
29 | BARDET Romain | Team DSM | ,, | - |
66 | LEKNESSUND Andreas | Team DSM | 2:59 | - |
139 | EEKHOFF Nils | Team DSM | 11:42 | - |
141 | TUSVELD Martijn | Team DSM | ,, | - |
161 | HAMILTON Chris | Team DSM | 14:40 | - |
168 | VERMAERKE Kevin | Team DSM | 18:32 | - |