The week of George Hincapie's American Continental project. Ben Oliver's stage 2 win in the Libramont-Chevigny rain was the team's first European victory and its biggest result by some distance, and from there he raced a tactically perfect bonus-seconds campaign. The final-day double in Aubel sealed the overall by two seconds and the points classification too — a landmark result for a squad targeting an American revival and one of the standout giant-killing performances of the season.

Lotto Intermarché backed Arnaud De Lie and were rewarded with a thrilling home stage win in Eupen and a GC podium. De Lie chased the win all week, timed his stage-4 sprint perfectly, then went for the double-and-heist in Aubel with Liam Slock launching him inside the final kilometre — only to be edged by Oliver at the line. Third overall at five seconds and a stage on Belgian roads made it a strong, if narrowly bittersweet, week.

Red Bull were the busiest team of the week, winning two stages from two different riders. Jordi Meeus opened with the stage 1 win and first leader's jersey, then turned lead-out man on stage 3 — combining with Danny van Poppel to deliver Laurence Pithie through a crash-split finale for a second stage win. Pithie also took the young-rider classification. But with the GC settled on bonus seconds at the line, the squad couldn't convert its firepower into the overall.

The Latvian-registered NSN Cycling Team punched well above its weight, with Riley Sheehan animating the finales all week, leading the race at one point and finishing second overall by just two seconds. Sheehan was denied a stage win by De Lie in Eupen and scrapped for every bonus second to the final day, while Krists Neilands added a podium on stage 3. A near-miss for the GC, but a hugely encouraging week for the ProTeam.

Kim Heiduk was a fixture at the front, taking podiums on stages 1 and 3 and holding the race lead into stage 4 before the bonus-seconds battle slipped away. Netcompany INEOS were consistently in the mix on the punchy finishes without quite landing a stage or the overall.