Tour de la Provence 2025 Stage 1

February 14, 2025 Stage 1 of the Tour de la Provence leaves Marseille by way of the stunning Col de la Gineste which saw action in the recent Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille. The race is 170 kilometers with 2,600M of elevation but the majority of the climbing comes in the first 125KM so it will be a battle for the attackers to stay clear for the finish in Saint-Victoret. The race got underway with cool but good racing temperatures and clear blue skies. The afternoon light was golden, the kind you only get in this part of the world. The wind was blowing however and reports were that the riders could experience gusts of 50KM/HR out on the road. Maximilien Juillard of Van Rysel Roubaix, Baptiste Vadic of TotalEnergies, Antoine Hue of CIC-U Nantes, and Victor Guernalec of Arkéa-B&B Hotels had a mximum gap of 3 minutes. Lidl-Trek took advantage of their strong team as the wind started to blow and split the peloton to pieces. Only 19 riders were left at the front and the break were swept up in the process after just 70KM. The race resettled and with 67KM to go, the front group had swelled to around 60 riders with Lidl-Trek and EF-Education EasyPost doing to work to keep things together for a bunch sprint. With 47KM to go, TotalEnergies increased the pace on the Côte de Belcodène. It drew out 10 riders but Lidl-Trek and EF-Education EasyPost had it marked out and things were back together 2KM later. Raúl García Pierna of Arkéa-B&B Hotels tried an attack as did Mattéo Vercher from TotalEnergies. Both teams were relentless in their attacks but it was together for the Intermediate Sprint which was won by Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious for 3 bonus seconds with Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek taking 2 seconds. Samuel Leroux of TotalEnergies went over the top of the group after the sprint point with 17KM to go. He pulled out an advantage of 40 seconds and it was all hands on deck for Lidl-Trek. The bunch was down to 40 riders and the pace had everyone swinging in single file just to stay in contact. The gap was still around 15 seconds with 2KM to go but other teams were moving to the front to get ready for a sprint which pushed the pace even higher. Leroux was caught 700M from the line with EF-Education EasyPost taking command of the front. Fred Wright was the first to start his sprint with 300M to go on the inside barriers of a gentle right corner. Pedersen followed with Marijn van den Berg of EF-Education EasyPost going around the outside. When the road straightend with 200M to go, Sam Bennett of Decathlon AG2R squeezed in between Pedersen and van den Berg and had the power to take the victory by half a bike length. The win is the first for Decathlon AG2R this season. Lukáš Kubiš of Unibet-Tietema Rockets followed Bennett and was able to grab second place. Alexis Renard of Cofidis had Pedersen's wheel and took third place with a bike throw.