Greig Leach

After the sprint, the four escapees got back to working together as they pushed out their advantage over the peloton. The group has just gone over the first categorized climb of the day, Parawa Hill, where they rolled through uncontested with Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) on the front. The Swiss Champion was followed in turn by Giosue Epis (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Ide Schelling (XDS-Astana), and Taco Van Der Hoorn (Intermache-Wanty). With seventy kilometers left to go, their advantage of a bit over a minute didn't look super promising. But then, sitting in the peloton, they would have considerably less chance than being out here on the front.