After a few kilometres Foss jumped away with four other riders. The five got a lead of almost four minutes. At fifteen kilometres from the finish line Foss and his fellow escapees were caught.

At the same time the peloton lost control. As a result, a group of fifteen riders tried to get away, but the attempt didn’t succeed. In the last kilometre Chris Harper brought Teunissen in a good position and after a long uphill sprint he finished third.

Teunissen looked back on his podium place with mixed feelings. “I was hoping for more. To be honest, the competition was strong again today. Unfortunately there was not more in it for me. I will now focus on tomorrow’s stage. Then I will fight for the victory again. Beforehand it was not the plan to ride for a top result in the general classification. The intention is that I mainly focus on winning stages. We’ll see what position this will give in the final rankings”, Teunissen said.

“It was good for the team and for me that I was in the breakaway today”, Foss said. “The other teams are watching us and expect us to take the initiative. Today the situation was different. Things are going well for me. After a rest period I am trying to regain race rhythm. The form is not yet as it should be, but I feel that I am slowly getting stronger. I’m looking forward to the next two races.”