On the opening day of the year's final WorldTour stage race, the peloton had to complete four local laps of about 35 kilometers each. The course wasn't entirely flat, with each lap featuring some short but sharp climbs for the riders to tackle.

Two riders broke away early, with the last one being caught just two kilometers from the finish line. Team Visma | Lease a Bike, which includes reigning overall winner Milan Vader, tried to contest the sprint through Van Dijke, but the team couldn't get him in place. In the end, Belgian rider Lionel Taminiaux claimed the stage win.

"We really miss Olav Kooij, of course," said sports director Frans Maassen. "It looks like we could have as many as five bunch sprints this week. It's a big loss when your sprinter is out due to injury. The racing conditions are different from what we're used to in Europe, it’s very humid here. I expect it won’t always be easy for the sprint teams to control the race. Maybe we can pull off a surprise in one of the flat stages. Stage five is definitely marked on our calendar. That seems to be a day for the GC contenders, and we hope to achieve a good result with Milan then."