“It was a pretty hard day,” Sports Director Grischa Niermann said. “The local circuit at the end featured a hard climb. We wanted to be in the breakaway today, but when seven riders took off on the first climb, our guys were not able to follow. In the end De Gendt won, he was really strong today.” 

Floris de Tier finished with Clement and the favourites in the first group. 

“We have a young team at the start. We don’t have any real GC contenders. We need to be in the break-away on one of the upcoming stages. We give the riders the freedom to choose a good day to be in the breakaway.” 

The second stage runs from Saint-Chamond to Arlanc, 171 kilometres with several small climbs. 

“The stage is similar to today’s stage, just a bit easier if you ask me. There are many sprint teams here. I think they want to give a small breakaway some time up the road, then control the race and lead it to a bunch sprint.”