“I hope it’s in echelons,” said Yves Lampaert at the start, but his wish was not fulfilled.
The peloton was initially quite nervous, but after the turning point towards start and finish San Juan it became clear that the wind was not favorable.
In the head of the course, a dozen prospectors gradually splintered, the last brave souls were a bird to the cat.
Everyone was still as fresh as a fiddle for the ordered bunch sprint, which was initiated by the traditional crash.
The main sprinters had escaped misery and in the closing kilometers Remco Evenepoel did his part.
Everything went smoothly, until a dangerous traffic island just after the rag made the peloton choose between left and right and many trains derailed.
The world champion and sprint leader Fabio Jakobsen were scrapped, Danny van Poppel had better luck with Sam Bennett.
It was then a piece of cake for the Irishman, although Michael Morkov still did an excellent job as an occasional sprinter in the short sprint.
A head-shaking rainbow jersey crossed the finish line not much later.
