Bad grades for QAV overall. They only had Vervaeke left (who for some strange reason already had to start working earlier in the stage, Declerq DNF is no excuse imho), while the bunch was still 50 guys. Then they put Vervaeke in front, way too soon. They should have kept him to keep Evenepoel out of the chaos and raise the pace in the final kms (like Almeida did in 2020). With Vervaeke done with 4k to go, Evenepoel was isolated. Either he should have attacked himself and battle it out with the few that would be able to follow, or he should have moved up earlier for the sprint. Now he started moving up with 300m to go, would have been rammed into the barriers had he not braked, and that was that. Race over for him.
Imagine having your favorite rider being the assigned personal maid of the Belgian Spilak.