As the general classification riders enjoyed a much-needed day of calmness, a 30-rider breakaway rode clear to decide the stage win with BORA - hansgrohe's Nico Denz taking his first Grand Tour victory.
As you may expect, such a larger leading group was never going to coexist for long. With 90km still left to ride the fractures began to show and a group found themselves minutes ahead of their breakaway rivals. Heading into the finale, Nico Denz, Toms Skujins and Sebastian Berwick battled it out for the stage win and with the German leading out the sprint, neither Skujins nor Berwick were capable of coming around Denz, leaving the 29-year-old to take his biggest career win to date.