A finely calculated long acceleration by Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM) in a mountain-top duel against Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) has netted the American racer a narrow but convincing victory and the overall lead in stage 2 of the Tour de la Provence.
In a thrilling battle on the toughest summit finish to date in the 2026 season, Rodríguez was clearly the strongest on the relentlessly steady, snow covered ascent of Montagne de Lure, when he struck out from a lead group dominated by Ineos with four kilometres to go.
However, Riccitello, riding his first race with new team Decathlon CMA CGM was able to regain contact, shadow the Spaniard to the final kilometre, then launch the two-way sprint on a very technical run-in.
The 23-year-old from Tucson, Arizona now heads into the final stage with a four-second advantage over Rodríguez, with Colombian Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers) in third.
How it unfolded
A six-rider breakaway formed early on the very hilly stage with more than 3,000 metres of climbing, containing regular local breakaway specialist Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies), Esteban Foucher (Groupama-FDJ United), Baptiste Gillet (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur), Diego Sevilla (Polti-VisitMalga), Gustav Wang (XDS-Astana) and Declan Irvine (Novo Nordisk).
The early breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
By the second ascent of the long, steady Cat.3 Col de Buire climb, its summit just under 60 kilometres from the finish, the six had an advantage of over three minutes. But the way the Ineos Grenadiers and Van Rysel-Roubaix-led peloton were chasing on the constantly rolling terrain, though, strongly suggested that the break would not be able to make it to the finish, and the loss of Irvine from the group ahead did not help matters either.
All of the five remaining in front were tied at 15 seconds on GC leader Arnaud Tendon (Van Rysel Roubaix), with Le Berre's best placing on stage 1 making him race leader on the road. The peloton shattered from time to time under the pressure of the hard chase behind, and despite some brief splits on the descents sparked by Decathlon CMA CGM, there were still well over 50 riders chasing hard as the never-ending slopes of the Lure loomed into view.
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The five had a gap of less than 10 seconds when they approached the long drag leading onto the Lure, and Le Berre tried his best as the road narrowed through a town to fend off the inevitable. The 24-year-old expanded his slender advantage again on the very steady gradients, but was still well within sight of the pack on the much broader, densely wooded roads at the foot of the Lure. Less than a kilometre to go, a pack led by AJ August, fourth overall, and French National Champion and Ineos teammate Dorion Godon forced Le Berre to throw in the towel.
The lined-out 30-strong front group could resist the pace set down by the seemingly indefatigable Ineos duo of August and France's Axel Laurance. But as the first flecks of snow appeared on the roadside and nobody attacked, it was clear most of them were on their upper limit, particularly with a block headwind. Finally, Laurance swung off, leaving the lighter August ahead, and the group was reduced much more rapidly to less than a dozen. The next big development came with 4.5 kilometres left and Ineos still very much in control when Colombian National TT Champion Brandon Rivera took over, with Rodríguez - on his first race since the Tour de France last year - just behind.
At last, 3.8 kilometres from the line and showing a hugely impressive state of form considering he's been away so long, Rodriguez stepped on the gas, albeit not quite hard enough to stop Riccitello from returning to within a few metres of the Spaniard's back wheel. The American fought again and again to get back on terms, but Rodríguez kept on applying the pressure and it looked like the Ineos racer could easily have dropped Riccitello. But, crucially, he failed to do so.
Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM) covered the attack of Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Their advantage on Rivera and Riccitello's teammate Aurélien Paret-Pèintre was 20 seconds with two kilometres to go and not wanting the two chasers to get back into contention, Rodríguez kept down a steady pace through increasingly high snowdrifts. Yet he could not get rid of the tenacious American.
That failure proved fatal as coming into the barriers, Riccitello launched a long sprint. The series of chicanes and technical turns almost proved his downfall and Rodríguez came back closer and closer but just ran out of road. Instead, the 23-year-old, crucially placed ahead on a last sharp lefthand bend, could just stay ahead of Rodríguez, with Rivera 14 seconds back on what had - with the rare scenario of a rider apiece from the same teams in each of the front two groups - proved to be a real tactical battle.
After the high mountain standoff, the Tour de la Provence finishes on Sunday with a long but largely flat 205km run from Rognac to Arles. After the climbs, the wind on the exposed landscape around the finish town is potentially the biggest threat to a bunch sprint and what could be a first GC victory of his pro career for Riccitello, although given the smallness of his overall advantage, time bonuses may yet play a part too.
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
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