Team Jumbo-Visma, however, started the race well. Gijs Leemreize was the first attacker of the day. Two riders joined him. The three got a maximum lead of more than seven minutes. Due to the wind, the lead quickly disappeared. The race opened entirely on the climbs and the gravel. Only Van Emden was able to get along with the chasing group in the final. Arnaud Démare won the race in his home country.

“As a team, we rode a much better race than the result suggests”, sports director Van Dongen said. “We were doing a good race as a team, but we had some bad luck and some punctures at crucial moments. When the peloton split due to the wind, we only had Jos and Michel Hessmann in the first peloton. That was far from ideal. We should have had at least one or two more riders up there. Luckily, it all came back together just before the gravel sectors. On these sectors, we lost Timo and Pascal early as they both punctured. Timo twice. As a result, we only had Jos in the front. That’s a pity because both Timo and Pascal felt good.”