After Team UAE Emirates had taken over the lead on the Jebel Jais, the pace was significantly increased. Dumoulin, who finished third on Tuesday's time trial, had to let go of the peloton halfway up the nearly nineteen-kilometre-long climb. Chris Harper seemed to have good legs and tried to get away twice.

However, the peloton did not let him go. Due to his earlier efforts, Harper could not keep up with the front group's pace anymore. The Australian finished almost fifty seconds behind stage winner Tadej Pogacar; Dumoulin lost more than five minutes. "This is quite a disappointment", team manager Frans Maassen responded.

"We were confident that Tom would go with the best, but he didn't have the legs today. Especially after yesterday's stage we didn't see this coming." According to Maassen, Harper could also have finished higher. "He was a bit impetuous and made two attacks that he shouldn't have made. With the legs he had, he definitely could have finished in the top twenty."

Now that the possibilities for a good final classification seem to be over, Team Jumbo-Visma focuses on the upcoming sprint stages. "Tomorrow we'll go at it full force again and we hope to do better than today", Maassen concluded.