The stage was coloured by a few breakaways, but the sprinters teams controlled the stage. Team Jumbo-Visma kept leader Primoz Roglic in the front and did not lose any valuable time for the general classification in the hectic final kilometres.

“This was a stage in which you could lose a lot”, sports director Grischa Niermann said. “It was very hectic, very nervous. The team got through the day without problems, so we are happy with that. We may not have been in the position where we wanted to be all day, but that’s just difficult in such a stage. In the final we were where we needed to be and that is the most important. For most of us it was the first race of the season. So it was also a day to get back into the racing rhythm and it is good that we have made a start.”