The fast men were in the spotlight on the first road stage of this edition.
It took only a handful of seconds from the moment the flag was waved at the start of the day to have the first attack of the season. A couple of minutes later, the escapees were caught by the peloton, who was keen on fighting for the bonus seconds at the first intermediate sprint before letting a group go clear.
Once that was out of the way, a three-man breakaway went up the road and built a gap of two minutes on the bunch. For a brief moment during the stage, there was a threat of crosswinds which saw several teams moves to the front of the field – who was spread across the road – but in the end things remained quiet and the teams interested in the stage continued to work behind the leading trio, clawing back time on Mengler’s Hill.
The sprinters’ lead-out trains began taking shape in the final ten kilometers and the breakaway was reeled in with seven kilometers to go. Soudal Quick-Step was also present for Alberto Dainese, who concluded the stage won by Tobias Lund (Decathlon CMA CGM) as the team’s best placed rider. Despite moving down a couple of positions in the overall standings due to the bonifications game, Andrea Raccagni continues to sit just a few seconds from the podium and the white jersey.
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