The 190.5-kilometer stage three at the Ster ZLM Toer introduced the first taste of hills with six bergsprints, amongst them the infamous Cauberg, but it didn’t prevent a bunch sprint for the second straight day.

However, for Trek Factory Racing’s young Dutch sprinter Danny van Poppel it was not his day.  From the start he felt bad, and the situation never improved over the course of the day, leaving him in survival mode instead of fighting in the bunch sprint at stage end.

“Danny was in a very bad day. He was at the back of the peloton all day. Without him, it’s almost impossible to have results in the bunch sprint," sports director Adriano Baffi said.

It was a while before a large nine-man breakaway formed and they stayed ahead of the race until four kilometers remained. Trek Factory Racing assisted in the chase, hoping Danny van Poppel’s legs might come around when the finish line drew near.

“After the climbs we helped to control the break with Lotto-Soudal because I was thinking, okay, he’s bad, but when the sprinter senses the line he can have a second life. Now we have one more chance on Sunday. Tomorrow it's a difficult stage and our chance to fight for a stage win will be the final stage and I am sure Danny will be back to his normal condition,” Baffi finished.

In the end, van Poppel faded out of the finale while André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) again proved fastest, taking his second successive win and keeping hold of the leader’s jersey. Moreno Hofland (LottoNL-Jumbo) finished a close second and Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen) rounded out the top three.