In the stage to Poitiers, Team Jumbo-Visma rode near the front of the peloton all day with GC leader Roglic. Van Aert started the sprint early and got outsprinted in the last metres.

“I was a little too far, but there was enough space on the right”, Van Aert said. “My only chance was to start the sprint early, otherwise I would definitely get boxed in. I started the sprint from too far to speak of a perfect sprint. However, I was still very close. When Sagan basically pushed me aside, I was so shocked that I lost my momentum. I think I could have won, but now I went from too far and that push made me lose some speed as well. I had a good sprint in my legs, but my positioning was not perfect. A sprint of more than three hundred metres, slightly uphill with headwinds was a bit too much if you have to cover so much distance.”

Primoz Roglic will head into the upcoming mountain stages as the GC leader. “The team once again did a good job by bringing me to the finish line in one piece. Especially in the technical final with a few narrow passages. In the next few days we will see what happens. I certainly expect the necessary attacks, but tactically little changes for us. We have to focus on ourselves and do what we have been doing throughout the Tour. We cannot do more than our best. If the competition has plans, we will find out about them soon.”