A leading group of nine riders was given the space to create a lead of six minutes and Finn Fisher-Black controlled the escape on behalf of Team Jumbo-Visma. About fifty kilometers before the finish the speed in the peloton, led by Pascal Eenkhoorn, Timo Roosen and Nathan Van Hooydonck, increased. They closed much of the difference.

An attack by Pidcock was a springboard for Van Aert and Matteo Trentin to join the leading group. The same trio eventually managed to escape fifteen kilometres from the finish, after which they battled it out in the final sprint for the victory.

“It was a difficult race to control”, Van Aert said. “Everyone was looking at us in the beginning. On the local lap we lost our grip as a team and we let other teams surprise us too much. Eventually I managed to escape with Tom and Matteo and that created a good situation arose. Tom was strong in the race, but I hoped to beat him in the sprint. I started early, but my legs filled up very quickly. Today the strongest rider won and that was Pidcock. It’s always frustrating when you just come up short at the end, but for the rest I rode in the best possible way today.”