The seven-day stage race started dramatically. Even before the official start, there was already a fall, with the result that after 13 kilometers already two riders, Imanol Erviti and Niklas Markl, had dropped out. Then a group of three drove away with Pierre Rolland, Laurens Huys and Maxime Bouet.
Not much happened for long, but on the last climb of the day at about 40 kilometers from the finish, there was a lot of acceleration with the aim of releasing Dylan Groenewegen. At 2 kilometers from the top, the Dutch sprinter had to release due to his former teammate Antwan Tolhoek in the service of Jasper Stuyven. He was by no means the only sprinter who could not follow the peloton, Phil Bauhaus, Juan Molano, Jordi Meeus and Luca Mozzato also fell off.
In the meantime, the front runners had been caught and so it was possible to sprint with a slightly thinned peloton, which had to work hard to keep the Groenewegen group behind. Remi Cavagna, however, had other plans and tried to pull away with one and a half kilometers from the finish, but without success. Ineos-Grenadiers put on the sprint for Ethan Hayter, but Van Aert was a rapper and was able to put his hands in the air for the Brit and Sean Quinn.
