Immediately after the start, Gloag and four others took off from the peloton. The group quickly built up a four-minute lead, and Gloag, trailing Adam Yates by two minutes in the overall classification, virtually raced in yellow for a short time. Team UAE Emirates saw the danger and closed the gap with 30 kilometres to go.

"I didn’t quite intend to be in the breakaway, but I enjoyed it”, Gloag said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get too much space. After the final ascent, everything appeared to be going well, but when the peloton split and the race became hard, our chances were gone.”

Gloag had an instructive week. His highlight was finishing tenth in the queen stage. "That was an excellent performance. I learnt a lot from my older teammates this week and will take this experience to the next races."

Sports director Merijn Zeeman was also pleased with Gloag's development. "Tom had an excellent week. He placed eleventh overall and showed on Saturday that he is a talented climber. We see Tom as a future GC rider for our team. He showed his potential last week."