Team Jumbo-Visma kept Oomen well in front all day to drop him off perfectly at the foot of the final climb.

“The goal of this tough mountain stage was to at least hold on to my top ten spot”, Oomen said. “The beginning of the stage was very difficult, because it went uphill. In the valley we worked hard not to let the leading group get away too far as it contained some dangerous guys for the classification. That was really nice to see. I am very grateful to the team that they did that for me.”

“We looked at what was possible day by day”, the Dutchman continued. “I can definitely live with this final ranking. This result provides a good picture of the balance of forces during this race. It was a long time ago that I rode as a leader. It took some getting used to, but I can move forward with this.”