World champion admits to 'small error' and says he should have stayed at his own tempo
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Nairo Quintana won the overall title at Tour de la Provence after taking stage 3 victory atop Montagne de Lure(Image credit: Roberto Bettini/SprintCyclingAgency)
Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) took enough time with a solo victory on stage 3 to win the overall title at the Tour de la Provence. The Colombian, who began the day 10th overall, launched his attack 4km from the summit of the final 13.4km ascent of the Montagne de Lure to claim his second Provence title in three years.
Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) finished second overall in the GC. Mattias Skjelmose crossed the line in second place, 37 seconds behind Quintana, and moved from fifth to third in the overall standings.
Going into the final stage, race leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) looked to be 12th on the stage and top-10 overall but was later disqualified for an illegal bike change.
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) won stage 2 of the Tour de la Provence on the uphill finish in Manosque. It was his second victory of the young season. Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and race leader Filippo Gonna (Ineos Grenadiers) trailed for the final two spots on the stage podium.
Manosque saw a fast sprint of 50 riders on the final two kilometres of the 187.1km hilly route.
With bonus seconds factored in, Ganna retains the black leader’s jersey, although his lead over Alaphilippe has been halved, while Pierre Latour remained in third place overall.
Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) kicked out of the final corner in Les-Saintes-Maries-de-La-Mer to win stage 1 of the Tour de la Provence. Sep Vanmarke (Israel-Premier Tech) trailed for second and Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) took third.
Maciej Bodnar (TotalEnergies) made a solo attack in the final eight kilometres but Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) closed him down and then Luke Rowe put teammate Viviani in position for the sprint win.
Crosswinds created havoc in the south of France for the 159.3km stage, and impacting the overall contenders. Alaphilippe picked up some bonus seconds during the stage but Ganna kept the race lead after dominating Thursday’s prologue time trial. He led Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) by four seconds, with Samuele Battistella (Astana) in third at 10 seconds.
World time trial champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) proved the hype was correct as the overwhelming favourite in the race against the clock and won the 7.1km prologue at the Tour de la Provence. Teammate Ethan Hayter, flying the colours as the time trial champion of Great Britain, finished 12 seconds back for second place. Tobias Ludvigsson (Groupama-FDJ), a former three-time time trial champion for Sweden, was another second back in third place.
The four days of racing saw 105 riders roll down the start ramp in Berre-L'Étang Thursday afternoon at one-minute intervals. Defending champion Ivan Sosa (Movistar) finished 1:04 off the winning pace.
Friday's stage of 160 kilometres is a flat day from the west side of Étang de Berre in Istres to Saintes Maries de la Mer.
The seventh edition of the Tour de la Provence will start on Thursday, February 10, in Berre l'Étang with a 7.1km prologue and ends four days later on Sunday with a mountaintop finish at Montagne de Lure. Eighteen teams, 11 of them from the WorldTour, will race a total of 505.6 kilometres across southern France.
Last year Iván Sosa took the overall lead of the Tour de la Provence for Ineos Grenadiers on stage 3, which concluded on Mont Ventoux at Chalet Reynard, and then held it through the final sprinters stage. He is on the start list for his new Movistar team this year, along with teammate and 2019 winner Gorka Izagirre.
Finishing second overall in 2021 was World Champion Julian Alaphilippe, who returns with QuickStep-AlphaVinyl. The Frenchman gained enough seconds on an early intermediate sprint on the final day to vault over Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers).
Three French Continental teams will this year join the WorldTour teams and three top Pro Teams - Arkéa-Samsic, B&B Hotels p/b KTM, TotalEnergies.
The 2022 course covers 505.6km over four days. The prologue will cover 7.1 flat kilometres along the waters of the Étang de Berre, inland from the Mediterranean coast between Arles and Aix-en-Provence.
Friday the flat terrain continues from the west side of Étang de Berre in Istres to Saintes Maries de la Mer with just 400 metres of elevation gain across 160 kilometres. Wind could very well be the main obstacle of the day as there is but one small categorised climb in the first half of the stage.
Climbers will have the weekend to showcase their talents, beginning on Saturday, 183km between Arles and Manosque, with three categorised ascents. Sunday is the queen stage, 169km from Manosque to the summit of Montagne de Lure. Across 3,251 metres of climbing on the final day, this rugged day concludes with the 17km ascent of Montagne de Lure, which has multiple sections of 10 per cent gradient.
Tour de la Provence 2022 stages
Prologue - February 10, Berre-l'Étang (ITT), 7.2km
Stage 1 - February 11, Istres to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 159.3km
Stage 2 - February 12, Arles to Manosque, 187.1km
Stage 3 - February 13, Manosque to Montagne de Lure, 169.1km
