The peloton set off in Gap for a 180-kilometre ride towards the finish in Barcelonnette. The hilly course once again aroused the interest of the breakaway riders. After the start signal, it was again a battle to get into the breakaway. On the first climb of the day - the Col du Festre - a large front group of 36 riders, including Wout van Aert and Bart Lemmen, was formed. 

The breakaway then worked together down the following climbs. An alert Lemmen responded to several attacks along the way. In the end, Campenaerts, Matteo Vercher and Michal Kwiatkowski managed to break away from the rest on the final climb. Lemmen was part of the chasing group, which just failed to join the three leaders. The trio eventually battled for the stage win. Lemmen finished in fine sixth place. Van Aert finished ninth shortly afterwards. 

“I felt very good, but the last hour I was suffering tremendously”, Tour debutant Lemmen said afterwards. “Because of all the work on the road I was drained. I kept cheering myself up to keep going. When the group was still complete, I reacted to all attacks to play the team game in service of Wout. Later I found myself in an advantageous position. Unfortunately we couldn't join the leading group, but I enjoyed this stage.” 

Van Aert again showed himself at the head of the race. “I could not react when Kwiatkowski accelerated. He was riding very hard. I gambled for a moment by not reacting to Campenaerts' acceleration. In hindsight, I missed a place in the right breakaway there. After that it was a long chase. My compliments to the three leaders who managed to stay in front. Bart was also very strong today. It's nice for him to get a top-ten place in the Tour”, the Belgian said. 

The riders are preparing for a tough final weekend in the south. The classification riders experienced a relatively quiet day in the peloton, which crossed the line more than ten minutes behind the stage winner.