It was climbing from the start in Selva di Val Gardena. During the ascent of Passo Sella, a hors catégorie climb, the peloton got shuffled immediately. Valter was always in a good position. After the tough opening climb, a group of eight riders formed the breakaway. Four more categorised climbs followed, with the double ascent of the Passo Brocon in the finale as the climax.

As the sun made way for rain, Valter made the jump to the leading group together with Nicola Conci. The duo joined the leading eight, but with about 60 kilometres to go, the leading group was already caught by the group of favourites. Some riders, including eventual stage winner Steinhauser, placed a new attack. Valter held on for some time in the reduced peloton, but the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider had to let go on the final climb. He eventually finished 26th.

“I felt good on the Passo Sella”, Valter responded afterwards. “Towards the end of the climb it went a bit too fast, but I was still fine in front. On the flat part after the climb, I tried to set up a counterattack, but we didn't get much space from the peloton. A little later, I was finally able to chase the leaders. Together with Conci, I managed to close more than a minute, which was quite an effort. The collaboration at the front went smoothly, but the peloton didn't let us go. Today I expected a breakaway to go until the end, but unfortunately that didn’t unfold.”

“When the peloton caught up with us, I saw that Steinhauser still had some energy left”, Valter continued. “He was also part of the early breakaway, so he was clearly the strongest today. My congratulations to him. Other than that, I am very satisfied with my climber's legs. We are in this grand tour to learn and such a fight to get into the early break is always a useful to learn from. Of course, as a rider you want to get a good result in every stage, but today I am satisfied that I was able to show my good legs and my champion's jersey again in the front of the race. After tomorrow's sprint stage, I see two more opportunities to try something.”