Greig Leach

With the pace off in what was sure to be a sprint finish, many riders had time to chat. Most were taking the chance to visit with each other, but I suspect that Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and his teammate Gianni Vermeersch were going over sprint finale plans. There was an intermediate sprint in another 56 kilometers, so the World Champion in his Rainbow Jersey could have been letting his fellow lead-out man the plan for getting maximum points towards the Maillot Vert when they get to Les Matellettes.