Eenkhoorn proved to be an ideal teammate for Van Aert in earlier stages and played a crucial role in stage wins, especially in the final stages. Today the Dutchman went for his own chance and jumped into the early breakaway.

The strong front group of six built up a lead of more than eight minutes before the peloton went in pursuit. The breakaway held on and five riders battled for the day’s victory in the final kilometres.

“The final was a tactical joust”, Eenkhoorn said. “My plan was to keep everything together for as long as possible. That was better for me. I had my doubts on the last climb and in hindsight I should have kept up the pace. Deceuninck-Quickstep eventually played the game best with only two men. Yves Lampaert attacked and I couldn’t close the gap anymore. Of course it sucks when you get a chance like that, but I’m feeling well all this tour. And tomorrow we’ll go for it again.”

Sport director Frans Maassen foresees an exciting battle for the general classification in the last stage. “We didn’t win anything today, but we didn’t lose anything either. We knew there was a good chance the breakaway would make it to the end. With Pascal we had the best man in the breakaway and we had the chance to win it. He came up just a bit short and wasn’t able to make a difference anymore. We chose this tactic today and another one turned out to be just a bit better. Tomorrow we’ll have another chance for the final victory. It won’t be easy, but that goes for everybody.”