Greig Leach

Frustrated with the pace and cooperation going on in the early nine man break, these three, Andriy Grivko (Astana), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) jumped away from their erstwhile fellow escapees. This trio quickly opened up a gap on their former compatriots, but more importantly they quickly added another three minutes to their lead over the peloton. It was a little odd that the race favorites let these strong riders build such a big lead. The gap grew to over fifteen minutes before those behind decided that enough was enough.