In the stage to Sisteron, the sprinter teams controlled the race from the start. A leading group of three got established fairly quickly and soon one rider remained. Team Jumbo-Visma remained grouped around its leaders throughout the day. The final became a bit tricky when a part of the team was held up by a crash. None of our riders were involved in the crash, but Wout van Aert had to swap bikes.

“They crashed just in front of me. I was able to stay on my bike with a lot of acrobatics, but I did not crash”, Van Aert said. “My front wheel was broken and I had to change bikes. Luckily I don’t have any injuries. I wasn’t planning on sprinting anyway. It was a fairly easy stage and I had no chance against the pure sprinters. It was a matter of getting through the stage in a safe way and we succeeded in that. Tomorrow is an important day for the GC. It will be a long working day.”

Sports director Frans Maassen was clear about the intentions afterwards. “The plan was to get Primoz and Tom through the stage without any problems. We succeeded in that. The boys did a good job. We expected a bunch sprint and we had a bunch sprint. You also know that dangerous situations will occur in the final of such a stage, but luckily we were spared. Today was a stage that was not to Wout’s advantage, but there will be days that suit him. First we will focus on tomorrow. It will be an important day in which the GC riders have to do it. The form is good and we have confidence in a good result.”