The Grande Partenza of the 107th Tour of Italy took place in Venaria Reale. The peloton set off for 140 kilometres towards the city of Turin, where some tough hills awaited in the finale.

After the start, a leading group of six were given some space by the peloton. The teams with general classification ambitions kept the six within reach with the decisive climbs in Turin in mind. On the first of two climbs of the San Vito - a short, steep hill - the lead of the remaining breakaway rider Lilian Calmejane decreased fast.

After the first climb of the San Vito, the riders prepared to climb the seven-kilometre Colle Maddalena. There, Uijtdebroeks, Valter and Jan Tratnik made a good impression in a reduced peloton. There were some attacks after the ascent of the Colle Maddalena, but the decisive acceleration came on the final climb of the San Vito by top favourite Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian was joined by Maximilian Schachmann and Narvaez, with whom he sprinted for the win. Narvaez won the stage. In the chasing group, Valter and Uijtdebroeks crossed the finish line in 9th and 14th place, ten seconds behind the stage winner.

“This result gives me confidence”, Uijtdebroeks responded afterwards. “It's a nice feeling when you can keep up with the stronger riders in the peloton. The legs felt good, which is not always evident after a long training period. On the Colle Maddalena, I felt fresh. That was a longer climb that also suited me better. I had a harder time on the San Vito, which was much more explosive. Besides, I was also too far up there, so I had to make up some places.’

“All in all, we can look back on a nice day”, the 21-year-old Belgian added. “I finished in a fine group with other classification riders. I am grateful to the team for their work. From now on, we will look at it day by day.”

Sports director Marc Reef also looks back on his riders' first Giro stage with satisfaction. “This was a stage that didn't suit us on paper. Our goal was to keep Cian at the front as much as possible, in which we succeeded. When some gc riders were dropped, Cian was still climbing seemingly easily. We knew beforehand that it would be difficult to follow Pogacar on the San Vito, so a place in the chasing group was a fine result. In addition, Olav Kooij, Tim van Dijke, Christophe Laporte and Edoardo Affini crossed the line unscathed.”