Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) attacked on the race’s first category-three climb and held the advantage onto the next gravel section with 17km to go.

Rowe and Geraint Thomas remained near the front of the peloton, meanwhile, plotting their next move – but looked happy to give Perichon some leeway up the road.

Perichon took full bonus seconds at the first crossing of the finishing line for the intermediate sprint, while Matthews sprinted from the bunch to take two seconds and Thomas beat Alberto Contador for the final bonus.

The second large group had closed the gap right up just behind, meanwhile – though there were still plenty of smaller groups trailing off the back.

Perichon was caught just short of the second passage of the two gravel sectors, with Team Sky leading the way and Matthews tucked in safely just behind.

Rowe put in a huge shift for Thomas, keeping the pace high to ensure there were no further attacks, before Swift took over for the final gravel sector.

Tony Gallopin (Lotto-FixAll) got a small gap, but Thomas followed and the peloton bridged across; Kittel was among the sprinters dropped however.

Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) was next to try his luck, and the Belgian still led under the flamme rouge but it proved to be late heartbreak with less than 300m to go.

Swift opened his sprint up first, and had a small advantage, but Bouhanni and Demare closed in fast having started well back.

And it was the latter who timed his sprint best, kicking hard to take victory with Bouhanni unable to come round.