It took over an hour for a breakaway to form, with the peloton travelling at . Eventually a ten-man group escaped, prompted by an attack from 's Steve Cummings. He was followed by eight other riders: Koen Bouwman (), Silvan Dillier (BMC), Vegard Stake Laengen (), Kiel Reijnen (Trek–Segafredo), Matteo Bono (Lampre–Merida), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto–Soudal), Sander Helven () and Quentin Pacher (). They were then also joined by Mads Pedersen (). With a little over half the race completed, the breakaway had over three minutes' lead. Bouwman was the first rider across the finish line on the first climb of the Mur de Huy.
