Just like the previous days, Team Jumbo-Visma took the initiative and controlled the race. Breakaway groups were given little space and were quickly taken back. In the difficult and twisty last ten kilometres, Groenewegen was well-positioned in the front by his team and was brought in an ideal position for the sprint. Groenewegen started the sprint first, but Bennett pipped him on the line by just a few millimetres.

“This is very disappointing”, Jan Boven said. “Everything went really well. After the disappointment of the past two days, the boys picked themselves up and shifted the focus to today. We were doing well all day in the race. Timo, Jos and Paul safely brought Mike and Dylan to the last corner and were in a good position. The fact that we get beaten by Bennett on the line is a pity.”

Tomorrow it will be a day for the GC riders with a short Ardennes stage in Houffalize. “I expect the race to explode from the start. It is a stage of barely hundred kilometres with more than 1600 altitude metres.”

Boven is counting on Laurens De Plus in Wallonie. “He has ridden very attentively for the past three days and he is feeling okay.”