A large leading group, with Koen Bouwman on behalf of Team Jumbo-Visma, got a maximum lead of about five minutes. Behind the breakaway the pace was mainly set by the GC teams. After the last rider of the early breakaway was caught, Sepp Kuss controlled the pace. At the finish Roglic was a few seconds ahead of his closest competitor Enric Mas.

Roglic was very happy that he had kept his jersey. “Today really felt like a queen stage. It was very tough. Especially after yesterday’s efforts. It wasn’t easy for me, but I’m glad I had something left on the final climb. We also didn’t have to control the stage with Bahrain and Movistar setting the pace. Their pace was fast, so the attacks we expected didn’t happen. I’m glad we’re done with the real high mountains. We’re all feeling the efforts of the past two days and the weeks before that. There are still a few difficult stages to come. Especially the one of Saturday. We have to stay focused.”