“It is my intention to reach the finish with as little energy wastage as possible,” said Wout van Aert before the stage.
And the yellow jersey kept its word. On the last climb (40 km before the finish), Van Aert deliberately let go of the group of favourites. He finally came in at 24 minutes.
When Rohan Dennis also went overboard, Van Aerts leader Roglic became isolated in the final.
The Slovenian initially did not give the best impression uphill, but nevertheless put things in order by counting all counter-attackers. The yellow jersey remains with Roglic in the Jumbo-Visma team.
Before the stage victory, the battle had already been decided with 30 km from the finish. McNulty left his 9 flight companions uphill on the spot with 1 speed increase.
Harm Vanhoucke still competed for a podium place in the day result, but lost ground in the descents. 4th place was his fate.
