“It’s unbelievable,” Pieterse told the press afterwards. She turned out to be the strongest of the three leaders. “I already felt that I had good legs. To be able to win here, in a sprint from Demi, that’s a dream come true. I actually started the sprint too early. I had never finished here before so I didn’t know where the finish line was.” The stage started in the Dutch Valkenburg and ended in the Belgian Liège.