Closer and Closer PR26-5
After his trials in the Forest of Arenberg, Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) was forced to chase hard and mainly on his own in hopes of regaining the front of the race. Forty kilometers after the forest he had seventy-seven seconds helped occasionally by Flippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers). They were followed by the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates, Gianni Vermeersch and Tim Van Dijke along with someone from TotalEnergies. The others seemed either unable or unwilling to help in the effort of recatching those up the road.