The stage had three long climbs. Due to the strong interest in being in the breakaway, the pace was very high in the early phase of the race. In the end, seven riders succeeded in breaking away. On the final climb, the escapees’ attempt proved to be in vain.

The door in the peloton was now wide open. Rohan Dennis and Robert Gesink were dropped at the foot of the final climb after the two had worked hard all day for Oomen and Steven Kruijswijk. The latter rider was strong on the final climb’s first part and tried to get away from the competition. The Dutchman did not succeed and decided to set his own pace. Oomen moved up a few spots in the final kilometres and finished just outside the top ten.

“It was a very tough day”, sports director Marc Reef acknowledged. “The arrival was very tough. On the final climb, the guys were racing above two thousand metres altitude. Everyone gave everything today. It is important to try to finish as high as possible in the classification with Sam and Steven in the coming days. There are still some challenging stages on the programme, partly due to the danger of the wind. Maybe we can try to move up a few places. We’re certainly not giving up now.”