Visma | Lease a Bike pinpoints what went wrong with Brennan while winner Welsford is celebrating

There had to be hard racing on the way, as the breakaway with Martin Urianstad (Uno-X), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) hammered along strongly. Among others, Danny van Poppel and Juan Sebastian Molano had to drop off the peloton as a result, which was also nearly the case for the eventual stage winner.

“We were in so much trouble at the back, I was really at my limit on the last climb. My teammates told me: come on, you can do it. That these guys have so much belief in me after such a hard year… I’m absolutely over the moon with it,” Welsford said.

The Aussie opened his account for INEOS and that clearly suited him well. “I can’t thank my team enough, this win is for them. I really wanted to start the year well for this squad, because as I said: they really believe in me. I want to give that belief back,” he added.

Visma | Lease a Bike controlled the entire day in service of leader Matthew Brennan, but ultimately could not compete for a good result. “Matthew went to the front too early on his own. Tim Rex did an absolutely stellar job all day by taking on the chase,” said sporting director Jesper Morkov.

“When the last breakaway rider was caught, we tried to position Matthew as well as possible, but unfortunately he was on his own too early and other teams came past him with more speed,” the Dane observed.

On Saturday and Sunday, there are rides to Willunga and Stirling, respectively. “It's going to be a very tough day, partly due to the high temperatures. As a team, we will try to support Anton Schiffer as much as possible. He deserves that after what he has already shown this week,” said Morkov.