In the race’s early stages, the pace was very high and no rider could escape. After previous attempts by Pascal Eenkhoorn, about twenty riders managed to break away from the peloton. In addition to Eenkhoorn, Staune-Mittet also made the jump for Team Jumbo-Visma. The young Norwegian was wearing the white jersey and was determined to show it off. The leading group got a maximum lead of three minutes before the gap slowly closed.

At the difficult end of the stage, the Alto de Malhão had to be conquered twice. On the first climb, the favourites for the stage victory already distinguished themselves. Foss and Staune-Mittet held on to the front towards the final climb, but Foss ultimately couldn't keep up with the pace of the five leaders.

Prior to the last stage, there was a clear battle plan, said sports director Maarten Wynants. “We expected that Ineos and FDJ would make it a hard race. That's why we wanted someone with us in the break to survive the first ascent of the Alto de Malhão. With a break of twenty riders, we were perfectly represented with Pascal and Johannes. On the first ascent of the Malhão, FDJ started to ride and Johannes was able to stay with the leading group, which was important in helping Tobias. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough power in his legs to take the stage victory."

Wynants had watched his riders complete a solid multi-day race. “The youngsters showed themselves well, Robert is at his old level, Pascal showed good things for the upcoming classics and Tobias was excellent too. The only unfortunate thing was his crash a few days ago; otherwise he would have ridden for the podium. That is the only downside of this week, but that is also part of cycling.”