Tour de la Provence: Vlasov wins stage 2

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Report

Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) won stage 2 of the Tour de la Provence with a powerful solo attack on the final climb of Les Crêtes above La Ciotat. The Russian champion ripped clear with two kilometres to go and opened a sizeable gap over a reduced peloton that failed to organise a chase.

Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) led home the chasing group some 24 seconds down on Vlasov, while his Astana teammate Alexey Lutsenko placed third on the stage. Lutsenko, who recently denied a report that he was coached by the banned Dr. Michele Ferrari, helped to police the chasing group in the final kilometre, though by that point, Vlasov’s lead already looked unassailable.

"It’s my first race with a new team, Astana,” said Vlasov, who joined from Gazprom-Rusvelo in the winter. "This my first race and my first victory, it’s a nice beginning to the season.

Kelderman had been the first rider to attack on the short climb to the finish, forging clear with 2.5km to go but his move was brought to heel almost immediately. Vlasov, however, launched a startling acceleration and quickly opened a winning margin over his pursuers.

"Some guys started to attack, and I wanted to protect our leader Lutsenko," Vlasov explained. "He stayed on the wheels and I went full gas to do my best. In the last kilometres, I saw no one was behind me and I went full gas."

Overall contenders Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Eddie Dunbar (Team Ineos) all came home in the same time as Kelderman and Lutsenko, 24 seconds down on Vlasov, while Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos), Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) were further four seconds back.

Vlasov inherits the Mondrian-inspired overall leader’s jersey from stage 1 winner Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea-Samsic) and the 23-year-old Russian national champion carries a buffer of 28 seconds over Kelderman into Saturday’s pivotal stage up Mont Ventoux.

Lutsenko lies third overall at 30 seconds, with Magnus Cort (EF Pro Cycling) a further four seconds back in fourth. Vlasov is a strong climber, as evidenced by his striking display on Les Crêtes and a notable string of placings in 2019, including third at the Tour of Slovenia and Vuelta a Asturias, fourth in the Giro di Sicilia and fifth at the Tour of Austria, where he also won a stage.

"We will try to protect our positions in the GC," Vlasov said of Saturday’s haul up Mont Ventoux, where the finish line will be at Chalet Reynard, some seven kilometres shy of the summit.

"We have the leader’s jersey and second place with Lutsenko, so we will try to protect our positions."

How it unfolded

The early exchanges saw Cyril Barthe (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Jonas Koch (CCC Team) and Victor Lafay (Cofidis) forge clear over the opening ascent of the Col de l’Espigoulier and the trio established a maximum lead of eight minutes on the Col de la Coutronne before the peloton set about reeling them back.

The escapees had just half a minute in hand on the category 3 Côte de Brûlard. Koch led over the top with 23km to go but the peloton was already upon him as he crested the summit. On the descent, the Nippo Delko One Provence team began its onslaught in pursuit of local glory. After Romain Combaud’s move was snuffed out, his teammates Julien El Farès and Evaldas Siskevicius launched a two-up effort, taking advantage of the sinuous road towards La Ciotat to eek out a gap of 15 seconds on the peloton.

El Farès had to forge on alone in the finale Siskevicius’ wheels slipped from under him on a left-hand corner with five kilometres to go, and the Frenchman was caught by the Astana-led bunch as the uncategorised climb to the finish kicked up with 3.5km to go. Soon after Vlasov took flight, surprising the big-name favourites and perhaps his own teammates.

Stage Results

Overall Classifications