While we have witnessed another intense battle at the front of the race for the stage (and overall) victory, for Intermarché - Wanty today's stage was more of a formality. Yes, Louis Meintjes was in the mix from the breakaway, however it was long clear that it will between GC favourites on Pla d'Adet. The main goal of the Belgian formation was getting the green jersey Biniam Girmay safely through the day, which they accomplished with full marks.
"The intermediate sprint wasn’t part of my plan today to be honest, but suddenly Jasper tried to be there so I needed to follow him. It was not the plan for me but I saw that he went so I just opened my eyes and tried to follow him," Girmay told the organizers.
At the intermediate sprint, the Eritrean eventually proved faster than Philipsen and grabbed another seven points, one more than his Belgian counterpart. "Then finally we were not in the front but it was a nice finish from me and that’s why I can feel a bit more confident. Today then we went just for a few small points."
After when the situation finally calmed down, Girmay's only mission was to reach the finish line safe and sound within the time limit - which he didn't have problems with. "Honestly though today was not that difficult because we had some benefits at the front, three minutes ahead of the bunch. So after the intermediate sprint I just continued, because I didn’t want to wait immediately. We were already in front of the other guys so I just found a good gruppetto and stayed with them."
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