With only 118 kilometres on the menu, it was written in the stars that the stage would end in a bunch sprint. A breakaway of four riders animated most of the day, but the sprint teams never allowed the gap to grow too much and kept control in the peloton.

In the closing phase, Christophe Laporte — wearing the red jersey after his fighting ride on the opening day — did an excellent job for his teammate. The Frenchman guided Kooij through the tricky finale and dropped him off perfectly for the sprint. Kooij launched from the front and looked set to take the win, but Merlier had other plans.

“We can’t blame ourselves for anything today”, Kooij said afterwards, proud of the team’s work. “We did everything right in the finale. I was in a great position and knew I’d be close to the win. Tim came closer and closer and eventually drew level. In the final metres he just had that extra bit of speed to edge past me. We both gave everything, and that made it a thrilling sprint. The stage win was absolutely the priority for me and the team today. After tomorrow’s time trial, we’ll see where we stand in the overall.”