The day started with bad news for Team Jumbo-Visma. Sepp Kuss woke up with a fever and had to drop out. “Losing Sepp is disappointing”, sports director Maarten Wynants said. “He was the last man for Primoz in the high mountains, and Sepp in top shape is of great value. But yesterday, he was already less good; he said he wasn’t fit. Last night he also got a fever. It’s a shame, but we still have excellent riders to support Primoz.”

A nine-rider breakaway group battled for the day’s victory. The run-up to the steep last climb did not go smoothly for Team Jumbo-Visma. Chris Harper was involved in a crash, but the Australian could keep going. At the beginning of the ascent, Roglic had to let go Remco Evenepoel and Enric Mas. The Slovenian ascended at his own pace and finished in tenth place, just behind Mas and Carlos Rodriguez.

“Of course we hoped Primoz could keep up with Evenepoel, but there are few riders who can keep up with him at the moment”, sports director Grischa Niermann said. “Primoz is not quite riding at a hundred percent yet. Yet he is still in the top of the classification. We didn’t expect Primoz to gain an advantage over his competitors today. We tried to limit the damage. I must admit that the gap with Evenepoel was big at the finish, but there are still two weeks to go. Third place in the general classification is solid, although we had hoped for better. We’re not giving up, and we’ll keep fighting.”