Germani (🇮🇹 FDJ) stayed a long time ahead of the breakaway, and when he was about to get caught, Scaroni (🇮🇹 Astana) joined him from the peloton. They only were caught in the climb of the time bonus sprint, 10 km from the finish line, at the bottom for Germani, after the top for Scaroni.

(In the peloton, there had been a strong acceleration by Ineos in the main climb of the day 40-50 km from the line, which caused several splits, in which Pedersen and Van Aert were caught. But the race calmed down as it as reaching the top, and most splits regrouped.)

Then Bardet (🇫🇷 Picnic) left in the descent after the time bonus sprint; he was soon caught up by Vacek (🇨🇿 Lidl-Trek) tanks to a split caused by another Lidl-Trek rider at the front of the peloton. They (well, mostly Vacek) managed to hold the peloton at bay on the flat until the final climb, but it consumed all their strength and they both soon blew up as this climb started.

A strong pace was lead, prominently by Alpecin who hadn’t noticed that Groves had dropped! When the final ramp began 200-250 m before the line, Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) attacked first, Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma) took his wheel, and Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) who was a bit better placed followed him. The position remained so, with a small gap between Van Aert and Del Toro and a bit larger gap between the Mexican and the rest. The rest was surprising lead by Rochas (🇫🇷 FDJ), 4^th before Roglitch and all.

NB: Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) let Ayuso (🇪🇸 UAE) pass ahead of him at the time bonus sprint 10 km from the line, but as he got the time bonus at the end, overall he gained 2 seconds over his leader 😀

4 victories for Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek), and a good chance for a 5^th one tomorrow again.

Good stage, interesting last 50 km with events at various levels of the race.