Paul Lapeira (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) secured his first win of the season on home soil at the one-day Tour des Alpes-Maritimes on Sunday.
The Frenchman surged on the final climb, caught and passed a two-rider breakaway, and crossed the finish line with the win by two seconds ahead of a chasing Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) and Simon Carr (Cofidis) in Boit.
The two breakaway riders, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) and Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling), entered the final climb with 20 seconds in hand. However, it wasn't enough to hold off a 13-rider chase group on the 1.5km uphill to the finish line.
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It wasn't all for nought as the pair hung on to the group in the closing metres with Brenner taking fourth and Martinez fifth on the day.
How it unfolded
The 58th Tour des Alpes-Maritimes moved from a two-day stage race to a one-day format this season, but still offered a challenging early-season race. The 154km route started from Villefranche-sur-Mer with four main climbs at Col d'Èze, Col de Châteauneuf, Col de Carros and Côte de Gourdon before a descent and undulating roads into Boit.
A breakaway of four formed, including Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain-Victorious), Niels Driesen (Lotto-Groupe Wanty) and Cedrik Bakke Christophersen (Unibet Rose Rockets); however, Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) was distanced from the move as the trio carried on up the road. It wasn't long, though, before all three were reeled in on the lower slopes of the Côte de Gourdon.
Warren Barguil (Picnic PostNL) was forced to abandon the race after a late-race crash; however, the team have not yet confirmed the extent of his injuries.
On the final decisive categorized ascent of the day, Côte de Gourdon, Martinez surged midway up, quickly followed by Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United) and Brenner.
A chase group formed behind the quartet with 13 riders that included Scaroni and Clément Champoussin (both XDS Astana), Frank van den Broek and Bjorn Koerdt (Picnic PostNL), Lapeira and Antoine L'Hote (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), Simon Carr (Cofidis), Andrea Mifsud (Polti VisitMalta), Joris Delbove and Nicolas Breuillard (both TotalEnergies), and Axel Mariault (CIC Pro).
Martinez and Brenner crested the Gourdon after distancing their rivals in the break, and both were reabsorbed into the larger chase group behind on the descent and into the valley roads toward Biot.
The leading pair hung onto a slim 20-second lead with five kilometres remaining, but three Decathlon CMA CGM riders led the chase group to try to close the gap.
As the chase group stopped working together, Champoussin attacked over one of the many short uphills in an attempt to bridge to the two breakaway riders, but he wasn't able to make it across.
Martinez and Brenner used their advantage on the narrow and twisting descent into the final climb, but they were caught halfway up as Lapeira surged past them on his way to winning the race in Boit.
Results
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