The same thing happened at the second intermediate sprint too, although this time, Pedersen was a little more prepared and managed to hold off De Bondt and add a solitary point to his tally.
Whilst the break were working hard at the front, as shown by the high average speed of the day, the peloton were gripping a tight leash throughout, never really allowing much more than two minutes advantage for the leaders. As the race headed into Slovenia for the first time of the day at around 45km to go, the leading quartet's gap to the main bunch was just 1:15.
As the road started to head upwards in Slovenia, Clement Davy was quickly dropped from the break on the Cat 4 Goniace / San Martino climb. Although the catch of the break looked imminent on the climb, heading into the final 25km, the leader's had re-extended their lead over the peloton to back out over a minute.
On the tight and cobbled sector on the finishing circuit, there was then a big crash in the peloton, slowing up the likes of Egan Bernal, Giulio Ciccone and Mads Pedersen, splitting the bunch to pieces in the process. Ciccone in particular looked in massive pain, but bravely decided to soldier on and get back on his bike.
With the peloton split, there were some notable names missing from the front group, including the likes of Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglic. Importantly though, in the lead group was the Maglia Rosa
Isaac del Toro. Worst affected of the GC contenders other than Ciccone, was 3rd at the start of the day Antonio Tiberi. Meanwhile, the breakaway was still holding firm at the front, 22 seconds clear into the last 10km.
The fight from behind as riders attempted to save their GC was becoming more important than the stage win though as the likes of Ayuso, Roglic, Bernal, Tiberi and more all buried themselves and their teams to try and get back into contention.
Sensing the chances of the break were slimming, Asgreen attacked his companions, soloing into the final 5km. With a lack of teammates to service the chase behind, the Dane was still 19 seconds clear into the last 3km as well.