The stage was characterised by an early breakaway that was caught in the last ten kilometres. On the way there were several breaks in the peloton, but eventually, a large peloton sprinted for the victory. Team Jumbo-Visma kept leader Roglic well in front during the stage, although the bad weather didn’t make this easy. Even in the mass sprint that ensued, the Slovenian leader didn’t face any difficulties.

“It was a fast stage today”, Roglic said. The rain made for cold circumstances from the start and the short climbs weren’t too difficult. Nevertheless, we have demonstrated today that we are a strong team. I’m glad I can start in the pink jersey for yet another day.”

Paul Martens rode a strong stage. The German looked back at today’s stage with a good feeling: “The weather made it a more difficult stage than predicted. Our job is to guide Primoz through these stages and we did that today.”

Tomorrow’s stage goes from Vinci to Orbetello over a distance of 220 kilometres with a fourth category climb on the way.