Greig Leach

At the base of the Cote des Quartre Vents, the trio of Gianni Vermmeesch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and his teammates Mathieu Van Der Poel and Michael Gogl hit the front of the peloton. They raised the pace making the other GC contenders move to the front in anticipation of an attack. Despite wearing the Maillot Vert, or the sprinters' jersey, Van Der Poel sits in fourth place overall. It seemed that he might launch an attack to see if he could take the stage and thus the Maillot Jaune. With the ten second time bonus, he would only need to get another four seconds on the current holder of the race lead, Remco Evenpoel. OR, it could be that he was trying to drop the other sprinters in hopes of, again, winning the stage (with or without taking the yellow jersey, too). We all watched waiting for the move. It never came.