Everyone had talked in advance about a cluster sprint on the fourth stretch between the French port cities of Dunkirk and Calais.
That did not happen, when something very unusual happened.
The 27-year-old Belgian Wout van Aert, who has been called "the eternal second", jerked with eleven kilometers left of the stage.
- On the radio we heard that it was a bit of a hassle, so I tried to go fully up to the top and then I was alone, says the stage winner in Eurosport.
The eternal runner-up won: "Not wise"
But that was not a matter of course.
- I did not know how to take it, but I decided to go myself.
van Aert has been called "the eternal runner-up" as he often took part in the riot in cluster sprints but rarely managed to win.
Something that happened in Sunday's stage in Denmark when he lost by a few centimeters.
- I did not want to take the risk anymore, he says.
The lead shrank slightly at the end, but he kept the lead into goal.
- It is not wise what we have seen today, says Eurosport's commentator Roberto Vacchi.