After the last breakaway-rider was caught at 15 kilometers from the finish line, the sprinters' teams brought their leaders to the front. Tiesj Benoot tried to attempt a top classification on behalf of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, but got no further than twelfth place. Albanese took the win.

“Our goal today was to not lose any time with Bart and that worked out perfectly,” sports director Maarten Wynants said. "Since we don't have a top sprinter with us, we knew this would be one of the hardest days to get a good result. However, Tiesj wanted to go for it. The stage was not tough enough to bring out Tiesj's qualities."

A more challenging day awaits the peloton tomorrow. With nearly 3,000 altimeters and some tough climbs in the finale, Wynants expects an open race. "We are going to try to protect Bart as best we can. Because of the special situation in the classification, we have to be prepared that it can become very unpredictable."