Equipo Kern Pharma land 1-2 punch at Mercan'Tour after nerve-wracking battle with Decathlon talent

The sixth edition of the Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes was won by Ibon Ruiz. The rider of Equipo Kern Pharma took the win just ahead of his teammate Ivan Sosa, after recovering from an early attack from Leo Bisiaux in the last few hundred meters. Domenico Pozzovivo finished fourth.

The Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes took place on Wednesday June 3 2026. The tough climbing race, which was part of the FDJ United series, featured 3 tough climbs, making it a war of attrition for the strongest climbers. Favourites for the race honours included Decathlon CMA CGM talents Leo Bisiaux and Jordan Jegat. The Unibet Rose Rockets were also looking for another race win after coming away from the Giro d'Italia empty handed.

From the start, 5 men chose the race route, including Dutchman Alexander Konijn of Nice Métropole. The breakaway got a lead of more than 3 minutes in the flat start, but that disappeared like snow in the sun when the climbing started. With 70 kilometers to go, the front five were caught.

In the peloton, it was TotalEnergies and Decathlon CMA CGM that set the pace. Especially on the second climb of the day, the French WorldTour team increased the pace considerably in service of leader Bisiaux. Young Remí Arsac, who normally competes for Decathlon's development team, took almost the entire climb, thinning the peloton down to about 20 riders.

Arsac remained in the lead until about 12 kilometers from the finish, when Ivan Sosa suffered an untimely puncture. When Arsac took off, his teammate Bisiaux immediately accelerated. At first no one could follow, but the chasing group worked together to keep the Frenchman on a short leash.

However, this partnership did not last long. Clement Berthet (Groupama FDJ) placed an attack to bridge to Bisiaux, but ultimately failed. TotalEnergies leader Jegat, meanwhile, was dropped completely, after the team had ridden hard for him. Bisiaux seemed to be riding leisurely towards the win with 5 kilometers to go.

With 4 kilometers to go, chasse patate Berthet was caught by a group of four including Domenico Pozzovivo and Ivan Sosa. These two proved to be the strongest in this group, but were already almost half a minute behind Bisiaux. With 2 kilometers to go, however, the Decathlon rider was losing time. Ibon Ruiz, a teammate of Sosa's, had joined the group.

With 1 kilometer to go, Bisiaux's lead was only 10 seconds. Sosa set about sacrificing himself for his teammate. With 400 meters to go, the chasers closed the gap before Sosa and Ruiz took off together. It ended up being a 1-2 for Equipo Kern Pharma after a very exciting final stage.