Laurance wins Tour de la Provence from early break, Riccitello takes overall victory
Axel Laurance took the victory in the final stage of the Tour de la Provence. The Frenchman from INEOS Grenadiers was the strongest and smartest in a large breakaway. Matthew Riccitello’s leader’s jersey was not threatened in the final stage.
The third and final stage of the Tour de la Provence was quite long at 205 kilometers, but not extremely difficult. Especially the finale of the stage was manageable. After some rolling hills in the early phase, the last seventy kilometers were flat. The expectation was that we would see a sprint finish in the Vincent van Gogh town of Arles. Or did INEOS Grenadiers have a surprise up their sleeve to secure the overall win for Carlos Rodríguez? The Spaniard was just four seconds behind leader Matthew Riccitello.
Oomen briefly virtual leader
One thing was clear: not everyone was content with a bunch sprint. There was plenty of action during the first hour of racing. Many riders tried to escape, at one point we even saw echelon formation, and eventually a large breakaway group formed. Among the nine escapees were Jannis Peter (Unibet Rose Rockets), Axel Laurance (INEOS Grenadiers), and Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek).
Oomen was the best-placed rider upfront with a 2:22 deficit to Riccitello. At one point, the Dutchman was the virtual leader, as the gap to the peloton stretched to nearly three minutes. However, Decathlon CMA CGM soon started to reduce the margin back to under two minutes. Then INEOS Grenadiers tried to stir things up again, but Riccitello remained untroubled.
The gap shrank a bit more due to this acceleration, down to just over a minute. Afterwards, the lead of the breakaway remained stable for several kilometers. At ten kilometers from the finish, they still held a slim minute advantage. However, tension started to rise at the front as several riders tried to sneak away.
Laurance solos to victory
At six kilometers from the finish, the decisive attack came. Laurance and Daniel Årnes (Van Rysel Roubaix) broke away, gaining a nice lead over their breakaway companions. The peloton no longer posed a threat and accepted the situation. But could Oomen and company still come back?
At least not Årnes, as the Norwegian—just before the red kite—took a roundabout from the wrong side. This mistake caused him to lose contact with the strong Laurance and fall back to the chasers. Laurance had to go solo but that was no problem for the Frenchman. He had enough in the tank to hold on to the finish line. Four seconds after crossing the line victoriously, Maxime Jarnet sprinted to second place, ahead of Lorenzo Manzin. Oomen finished seventh.
Riccitello overall winner.
There were no further changes at the top of the general classification. Riccitello thus secured his overall victory, with INEOS riders Rodríguez (second) and Brandon Smith Rivera (third) joining him on the podium.
