Right from the first kilometre there was a battle for the breakaway. Many riders wanted to be part of it, including Sepp Kuss on behalf of the yellow-and-black brigade. His breakaway, and many others that followed, were smothered by the chasing peloton. Kruijswijk, however, eventually managed to join a new large group. The Dutchman attacked from that group and did everything possible to catch Majka, who had escaped earlier. In the end, he did not succeed.

“It was very difficult to get into the breakaway”, Kruijswijk said. “The cooperation in the chasing group was not good, so at one point I decided to attack myself. I did get a bit closer, but I also had to keep my own pace. I could only hope that Majka would collapse, but that didn’t happen. He was very strong and really put on a show. It was not our intention to go on the attack, but in a big group we always wanted to have someone of us present. That was me today.”

“If it had been necessary, I would have dropped back to work for Primoz. But he had enough support in the peloton. It’s nice that I got the freedom to go for the stage win. I certainly appreciate that. From the start it was crazy. The pace was very high all day. I don’t think anyone had an easy day today. So in that respect, a rest day tomorrow is convenient.”