The long stage from Valdaora to Santa Maria di Sala wasn’t too exciting, until the final. A leading group of three riders received a maximum advantage of six minutes. After an exciting final kilometre, the stage was won by Cima, who narrowly made it before the upcoming peloton. During the stage, Roglic was well protected by his teammates from Team Jumbo-Visma. He remained third in the general classification.

Roglic looked back at a stage that was characterised by a tough start. “It was a difficult start. It went really fast, but after the leading group was formed, the peloton became more composed. Nevertheless you have to stay focused in these types of stages. The upcoming days will be harder than today’s. I’m feeling a lot better. My stomach problems have gone. I still have some inconveniences from my crash, but we are not giving up. We’ll keep fighting as long as we can. We‘ll give everything we have in the last stages.”

“The men got through the day in a perfect way”, team leader Addy Engels looked back. “They protected Primoz well and kept him in the front in the final. In the upcoming days, we will continue to fight with everything we have. The boys will support him as well as possible, but it will mainly depend on Primoz himself. The next two mountain stages will be incredibly tough and then we still have the time trial in Verona of course. Primoz made a good impression today and he is still willing to fight.”