Greig Leach

Today was a short stage (160K) with three steep, steep climbs at the end of the journey, so it was going to be hard and fast. The first hour covered over 50 kilometers as group after group tried to get into the break away of the day. Finally after 40 kilometers of racing it was this group of eight that made the break stick. It helped that the best place rider was over 45 minutes behind the race leader. Some of those in the break included Lluis Mas (Caja Rural-Seguros), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Matteo Trentin (Quickstep), and Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal). Trentin was able to take advantage of one of the few early intermediate sprints to add to his point tally in the sprint competition. Despite how well he has been climbing, there was no chance he would be there at the final summit of the day.