“The most important thing for today is to collect as many points as possible to secure the blue jersey,” said Bouwman before the stage. The 28-year-old rider of Jumbo-Visma already had the blue jersey firmly on his shoulders, and knew that he could secure first place in the hill stage from Marano Lagunare to Santuario Di Castelmonte. He was part of the breakaway without any problems, together with teammate Edoardo Affini.
On the first climb of the third category to Villanova Grotte, Bouwman managed to take all nine points without any problems. The Dutchman repeated the same trick on the second climb, also of the third category. The peloton then crossed the border into Slovenia for the third and toughest climb of the day. On the 10.3 long climb to Kolovrat with an average gradient of 9.2%, Bouwman also impressively came first, thus securing the jersey for good.
