After yesterday’s sprint stage, today offered a good chance for the breakaway to take the victory ahead of tomorrow’s final showdown in the mountain. It was the expected long battle for the group that took quite a while before the group of the day went clear. The peloton took it easy and so the breakaway fought out the victory. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL made sure that Romain Bardet was safe for the GC and saved some energy for the upcoming big battle. Romain finished save with the bunch and defended his 7th place in the GC.
Speaking at the finish Bardet said: “Today was a relatively quiet day at the office, with the breakaway fighting for the win. The guys did a good job keeping me safe all day long so I could save as much energy as possible ahead of tomorrow’s last battle in the mountains.”