Aleksandr Vlasov wins Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge

Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) took the biggest win of his career with victory at the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge after holding off a late chase from Richie Porte (Trek Segafredo). Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) finished third to complete the podium.

As expected the race came down to a frantic battle on the slopes of Mont Ventoux with several major attacks taking place before Vlasov made his move. The 24-year-old, who enjoying an incredible run of form attacked with 4.5km remaining and quickly caught and dropped Martin. The Astana rider’s acceleration sparked a reaction from both Richie Porte and Nairo Quintana but the Colombian could offer little in the way of assistance as the finish approached.

Porte was able to drop his companion and then repeat the trick when he caught Martin with just over 2km to go but the Australian was unable to pull back any time on Vlasov. The Astana climber provided necessary cover when his teammate Miguel Angel Lopez was dropped on the lower slopes of the climb and carried on his form from La Route d’Occitaine, where he finished third overall.

Pierre Latour, who had instigated the attacking when he soloed off the front with 10km to go finished fourth, just ahead of Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates). Quintana was forced to settle for eighth, while last year’s winner Jesus Herrada took ninth.

"It's a very famous mountain, the mountain of champions so I'm very, very happy to win here,” Vlasov said at the finish.

“I'm happy with my performance and with the teamwork. We did a good job. I felt very good and I tried to attack. I'm very happy. Now I will go in Italy for the Classics. With my shape, I hope to get some good results in the Giro dell'Emilia or Il Lombardia, it's a very nice race. And I want to do my best."

How it unfolded

The action began with a group of eight riders including Carmelo Urbano Fontiveros (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Jose Gonçalves (Nippo Delko One Provence), Juan Felipe Osorio Arboleda (Burgos-BH), Alessandro Monaco (Bardiani-CSF), Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Marlon Gaillard (Total Direct Energie) and Robert Scott (Canyon dhb p/b Soreen) attacked in the early stages of the race. The event is only in its second season but drew an impressive start list with Astana, Trek-Segafredo and Cofidis all entering the race with high-quality line-ups.

At the summit of the first climb of Fontaube the leaders had 3:30 over the peloton but it wasn’t until the first climb to Chalet Reynard that the race began to truly break up. Bravo attacked from the break and dropped his companions as Astana and Trek-Segafredo set about controlling the chase.

The lone leader held only a minute’s advantage over the peloton as the final, long ascent approached and he was duly caught as the main field thinned down to less than 40 riders. Latour was the first heavyweight to attack with 10km to go and his acceleration was enough to see Lopez start to crack. The Frenchman was unable to build on a small advantage and it was Cofidis that moved to the front in order to set up Martin. His acceleration was vicious and split the remnants of the main field. The Cofidis leader quickly made contact with Latour, and although there was a valiant defence from the AG2R La Mondiale climber he was soon forced to ease his efforts as Martin pushed on with 6.4km to go.

Trek began to wind up the pace but their hard work only helped to set up Vlasov, who jumped away with 4.5km to go. He caught and dropped Martin in less than a kilometre and although Porte tried to reel in the Astana rider he gave himself too much to do in the closing stages.

Results

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Full Results
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 4:56:39
2Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:18
3Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:59
4Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:01:29
5Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:38
6Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:43
7Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:51
8Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:01:57
9Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:02:15
10Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:32
11Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Cofidis
12Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:02:54
13Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:03:06
14Cristian Rodriguez Martin (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:03:09
15Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:03:43
16Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' 0:03:48
17Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:16
18Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:04:26
19Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:50
20Jaime Castrillo Zapater (Spa) Kern Pharma 0:05:25
21Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:05:57
22Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:06:00
23Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:03
24Rémy Rochas (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:06:06
25Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:06:08
26Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:06:53
27Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos-BH
28Jhojan Orlando Garcia Sosa (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:55
29Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis 0:07:29
30Joan Bou Company (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:07:42
31Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:08:20
32Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos-BH
33Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:32
34Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:09:19
35Barry Miller (USA) Cambodia Cycling Academy 0:09:53
36Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:09:57
37Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:10:32
38Simone Petilli (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert
39Alexander Evans (Aus) Circus-Wanty Gobert
40Daniel Alejandro Mendez Noreña (Col) Kern Pharma 0:11:35
41Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:12:04
42Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:12:56
43Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:13:05
44Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:13:18
45Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
46Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:13:36
47Antoine Berlin (Mon) Cambodia Cycling Academy 0:14:20
48Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis 0:14:48
49Callum Macleod (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen 0:16:06
50Juan Felipe Osorio Arboleda (Col) Burgos-BH 0:16:27
51Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie 0:17:26
52Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Kern Pharma 0:18:08
53José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence 0:19:29
54Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team
55Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
56Ibon Ruiz Sedano (Spa) Kern Pharma
57Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
58Paul Ourselin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:20:01
59Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:22:18
60Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
61Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:22:21
62Alessandro Monaco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' 0:22:24
63Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:24:29
64Kinfe Hailemichael (Eth) Nippo Delko Provence 0:25:00
65Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:26:21
66Marlon Gaillard (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:27:27
67Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence 0:29:58
68Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:30:29
69Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis 0:30:32
70Isaac Canton Serrano (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:35:22
OTLMark Christian (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen 0:36:26
OTLMaximilian Stedman (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
OTLJacob Scott (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen 0:39:57
OTLLewis Askey (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
DNFClément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
DNFAnthony Jullien (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
DNFJake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
DNFKilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
DNFSimon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNFLéo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNFHernando Bohorquez Sanchez (Col) Astana Pro Team
DNFAndres Camilo Ardila Ordoñez (Col) UAE Team Emirates
DNFKiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
DNFAlan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNFJuan Fernando Calle Hurtado (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNFJefferson Cepeda (Ecu) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNFOier Lazkano Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNFCarmelo Urbano Fontiveros (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNFJerome Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNFValentin Ferron (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNFIbai Azurmendi Sagastibeltza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNFUnai Cuadrado Ruiz de Gauna (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNFRuben Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNFMarco Benfatto (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane'
DNFGiovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane'
DNFUmberto Orsini (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane'
DNFManuel Senni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane'
DNFFilippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane'
DNFJeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNFThomas Degand (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNFThéo Delacroix (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNFKevin Van Melsen (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNFFumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
DNFJulien El Fares (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
DNFAtsushi Oka (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
DNFCyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNFJérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNFJustin Mottier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNFLuca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNFSebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNFTom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNFAngel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNFJesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNFJosé Fernandes (Por) Burgos-BH
DNFJon Agirre Egaña (Spa) Kern Pharma
DNFJose Felix Parra Cuerda (Spa) Kern Pharma
DNFIvan Moreno Sanchez (Spa) Kern Pharma
DNFDaniel Pearson (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
DNFRory Townsend (Irl) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
DNFRobert Scott (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
DNFSamy Aurignac (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNFGabriel Muller (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNFPascal Bousquet (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNFFlorian Dumourier (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy

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