Because of her third place, Vos defended her yellow leader’s jersey superbly. She even took some bonification seconds at the finish. The sprinters teams and Team Jumbo-Visma, which kept Vos well in front, controlled the longest Tour stage, almost 176 km, for a long time. The peloton never gave the four-rider leading group much space and caught them a few kilometres from the finish.
Some forty kilometres earlier, Anna Henderson had been involved in a massive crash, but she could continue quickly and did not suffer much damage.
Vos spoke of a fair but hectic sprint afterwards. “From the last climb, we had to sprint. The speed was very high. The last kilometres were chaotic, but we did well as a team. Lorena had more speed in the last metres. I tried to follow her, but she was faster.”
“It was a good day because I also grabbed some seconds”, she continued. “It was a long and challenging stage. Every team had to fight to stay out of trouble.” The green jersey is also a goal for Vos. “I have a nice lead and want to keep it. That is a nice thing to achieve.”