The opening stage at Circuit des Ardennes saw Development Team dsm-firmenich PostNL line-up with a young but motivated squad. From the flag drop the team were well positioned and rotated through the attacks before Ryan Gal made it into the four rider break of the day after 50 kilometres. The bunch kept it close though, with the gap reaching a maximum of two minutes, and soon the race entered a crosswind section where things split to pieces. Unfortunately, Mees Vlot stopped the race after being involved in a crash. Gal rode strongly to remain in the front where he was joined by Oliver Peace, but an ill-timed mechanical meant that Peace dropped from the roughly 40-rider strong front peloton. The pace stayed high throughout for the rest of the day. At around 15 kilometres to go Gal had a flat tyre but a quick change and some strong legs saw him return to the front group. Coming into the finale he tried to attack but it wasn’t possible; eventually rolling in with the main group.
Speaking after the stage Gal expressed: “The goal of the day was to have as many people in the final so we had to be active to get someone up front already early on. There were lots of attacks and I saw a chance and went into the breakaway with three others. After 72 kilometres we knew it would be crosswinds, so when we got caught after 77 kilometres I found myself in the front group. Oliver was there as well, but he unfortunately had a puncture at a very bad moment and dropped. Also the other guys had a lot of bad luck because of the chaos, with Mees unfortunately crashing out. In the final I still felt good, but had a flat about 15 kilometres from the finish. I managed to come back, but the pace was high so it was hard to attack. Eventually in the final kilometre I tried to go but just avoided crashing, and ended up finishing in the first group. It was a chaotic first day, but there are more days to come with the guys.”