A strong seven-man group forced their way clear to form the early breakaway, including Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates – XRG), Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), Javier Romo (Movistar Team), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain – Victorious), Rui Costa (EF Education – EasyPost), Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling Team). A counter that included experienced Lidl-Trek man Julien Bernard did try to make it across, but with 75km to go, the Frenchman and José María García were still caught in no man’s land and were then caught by the peloton a short while later.
Heading into the final 40km, the breakaway’s advantage over the peloton was still around three and a half minutes, giving them plenty of chance for a stage win, despite the up and down parcours awaiting them before the line. With the gap still around that same distance with just 25km to go, the leading 7 could begin to plan their route to a stage win.