Aggressive and clever: INEOS win final stage of Tour de la Provence, but miss out on overall

Saturday’s images were epic, as Riccitello beat Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) in a sprint on a snow-covered and freezing Montagne de Lure. That gave the American climber a four-second advantage over the Spaniard in the standings — a margin that looked very defendable on the final day.

The riders still faced some climbing early on in the 205-kilometre finale, but the second half of the stage was set to be almost entirely flat. After the surprise on day one and the brutal summit finish on day two, the closing stage finally offered a proper opportunity for the faster men — at least on paper.

Once again, it was the wind — a major factor in several races this week — that sparked the early action on Sunday. The peloton split more than once, and after a long fight nine riders eventually managed to form the day’s breakaway.

Dutchman Sam Oomen was there for Lidl–Trek, joined by riders like Laurance (INEOS Grenadiers) and Jannis Peter (Unibet Rose Rockets). The bunch allowed it, and the nine quickly built an advantage of around three minutes. With a stiff breeze, a surprise outcome was not out of the question.

INEOS Grenadiers, for their part, were not willing to let the day drift by. The British squad refused to give up on challenging Riccitello’s overall win and tried to force something in the crosswinds. A brave attempt — but the wind did not seem strong enough to truly shred the peloton.

Because of INEOS’ acceleration, the peloton had already closed a lot of the gap to the front group. When the lead dropped towards a minute with around 25 kilometres to go, Simon Carr (Cofidis) tried to go solo from the break. The Brit gained a little space, but was quickly brought back by the other escapees.

Still, the nine held on for a long time. With eight kilometres remaining the gap was still 50 seconds, and suddenly it looked like the peloton might miscalculate. It became even more tense when Laurance attacked in the finale with Daniel Årnes (Van Rysel Roubaix), with the seven chasers only a few seconds behind.

Just before the final kilometre, Årnes chose the wrong side of a roundabout, while Laurance cleverly went to the right — and suddenly flew clear on his own. The peloton never came close again, and the other breakaway riders did not see the Frenchman back either. Laurance took his first win for INEOS, while Riccitello wrapped up overall victory in Provence.