Place Name: Avenue De Valberg
Address: 19b Avenue De Valberg, 06470 Péone, France
Details: May 29, 2024
The 20th Stage of the Tour de France covers the same roads as the second half of this year's Classic Alpes-Maritimes which drew in many World Tour teams for a race preview. Valentin Retailleau of Decathlon AG2R was the last member of the break to stay away. He was solo with 60KM to go and had a lead of 3 minutes 40 seconds. Groupama-FDJ set the pace in the peloton and brought back Retailleau by 51KM to go, near the top of La Colmiane. Lenny Martinez of Groupama-FDJ was first to attack on the next climb of the Col de la Couillole. Stephen Williams of Israel-Premier Tech followed but they were brought back by Decathlon AG2R. One crash took down Lenny Martinez from a touch of wheels and another brought down Guillaume Martin of Cofidis. Martin never got back tot he front of the race but Martinez caught back to the chase group. George Bennett of Israel-Premier Tech attacked next with David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ. They did not get much of a gap but Gaudu could not follow the pace and had to drop back. Martinez attacked out of the chase group and brought back Bennett, bringing with him Clément Berthet of Decathlon AG2R, Matthew Riccitello of Israel-Premier Tech and Harm Vanhoucke of Lotto-Dstny. Berthet countered and got away 3KM from the top. Martinez was able to bridge to Berthet then dropped him before they went over the top of the Col de la Couillole with 10KM to go. Berthet caught Martinez on the descent and the pair extended their advantage to the chasers to around 30 seconds. At 1KM to go, Martinez attacked Berthet who had no answer. Martinez rode to victory, Berthet held on for second place and Vanhoucke led the chase in for third.
Tags: Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes, 2024, May, Puget-Théniers, Valberg, Valentin Retailleau, Lenny Martinez, Stephen Williams, Guillaume Martin, David Gaudu, Clément Berthet, Matthew Riccitello, Harm Vanhoucke