Spanish pro Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) claimed the first victory of his professional career at Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes, a brutal one-day race filled with climbing in the south of France.
The victory looked for all money as though it was going to Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), after the young Frenchman attacked away solo with 11.6km to go on the final 14.4km climb to Valberg and surged around 20 seconds ahead of the chasers.
Bisiaux held onto this lead for most of the ascent until Ruiz's teammate Ivan Sosa came to the front and started setting a brutal tempo in the last 2.6km. By this point, only the Equipo Kern Pharma duo and recently out-of-retirement veteran Domenico Pozzovivo (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) were still in contention.
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Sosa closed down the faltering Bisiaux with 450 metres left to climb, and quickly it became clear that the duo from the Spanish team were the strongest two, leaving the Frenchman and Pozzovivo behind.
Ruiz moved to the front past Sosa to celebrate victory over the line, with his teammate not far behind in Second. Bisiaux held on to finish on the podium, 11 seconds down.
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