In preparation for the Tour de France, the core of the Tour team raced together for the first time after the altitude training in Tignes. "We came out strong after a long period of training and it shows. I had to get back in the routine a bit today. It felt a bit strange to fight for a place in the peloton again. The final was hectic, but it’s just like skiing, you can’t unlearn it. I couldn’t wish for a better test than this”, Dumoulin said.

The team was active in the front throughout the race and it was mainly Tony Martin who did a lot of work to close the gap to the front runners. According to Dumoulin, putting on the sprint for Roglic was not entirely according to plan: “I knew Primoz wanted to try on the last climb, but he didn’t get away. I know he is fast, so I just pulled the sprint for him. But he was at his limit due to his effort right before."

As a result, the Slovenian champion was narrowly beaten. Roglic: “Of course you always want to win and it was a close call. But this was a nice and warm restart of the season.”