Tour de la Provence: Nairo Quintana wins on Mont Ventoux

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Nairo Quintana secured his first victory in his new colours of Arkeéa-Samsic on Mont Ventoux during stage 3 at the Tour de la Provence.

The Colombian attacked near the lower slopes of the 10km final ascent and crossed the finish line 1:28 ahead of a select chase group that included runner-up Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) in second place, and overnight leader Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) taking third.

Quintana is now leading the overall classification with 1:04 ahead of Vlasov and 1:28 ahead of Lutsenko going into the final stage 4, a 170.4km race from Avignon to Aix-en Provence on Sunday.

The third stage of the Tour de la Provence marked a considerable opportunity to shake up the general classification with a finish at the top of Mont Ventoux. It was also an early-season test among the high-profile climbers participating in the four-day race. 

Quintana’s Arkéa-Samsic team, including French champion Warren Barguil, set him up perfectly into the based of the Mont Ventoux. He launch his winning attack on the steeper sections with seven kilometres to the top and almost immediately put Groupama-FDJ’s notable prospects Thibaut Pinot and David Gaudu into danger.

There was a very brief draw from Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) but the young American faded quickly and was caught and then distanced by a desperate chase from Lutsenko and Carthy. 

In an effort to save his overall lead, Vlasov bridged across to his teammate Lutsenko and Carthy, but the trio were no match for Quintana, whose lead exploded from an initial 18 seconds to over a minute in the final kilometre.

Quintana’s victory builds on Arkéa-Samsic’s strong start to the season after the team’s sprinter Nacer Bouhanni already won stage 1 at the Tour de la Provence and a stage at the Saudi Tour earlier this month.

How it unfolded

The day’s 140.2km race started in Istres and included two intermediate sprints; the first at the start of the stage in Aureille (22.5km) and the second near the end of the stage in Bedoin (127km). More importantly, there were two mid-stage category 3 ascents over the Col de Lauris (57km) and Col de Cedres (71.5km), and then the final category 1 climb up Mont Ventoux that finished at the Chalet Reynard.

Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) cleared the field early and was quickly joined by Timothy Dupont (Circus Wanty-Gobert). The breakaway grew to five riders when Johan Jacobs (Movistar), Jeremy Leveau (Matura4Ever-Roubaix Lille Metropole) and Bryan Alaphilippe (St Michel-Auber93) bridged across.

Cavagna started the day at more than four minutes behind overall leader Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana). He put the Kazakh team under pressure when he distanced himself from his breakaway companions in a solo move that steadily gained upwards of six minutes with just 30km to go.

Fifteen kilometres to the foot of the final climb up Mont Ventoux, Groupama-FDJ offered their assistance in the chase in an attempt to put their leaders Pinot and Gaudu in the best possible position for a strong stage performance. Eventually other teams with strong prospects for a stage win joined the effort; Arkéa-Samsic with Quintana and Barguil, Jumbo-Visma with Kuss, Team Ineos with Eddie Dunbar, Cofidis with Jesús Herrada and Sunweb with Wilco Kelderman.

The remnants of the initial breakaway were reabsorbed into the field with 14km to go, but Cavagna carried his momentum into the bottom of the climb still holding four minutes. As it turned out, the gap wasn’t enough to make a difference on an ascent like Mont Ventoux. He began to pay for his efforts early on and his gap steadily dropped as the road steepened and the race for the stage win lit up behind.

Groupama-FDJ led the field on the lower slopes of Mont Ventoux, with some contention from Team Ineos, Arkéa-Samsic, Jumbo-Visma and Cofidis. Barguil gave one long pull in support of Quintana before dropping off the pace of the lead group. 

Quintana made his attack just as the front group began to split apart. Kuss was the only rider to follow but the pace proved too high for the Jumbo-Visma rider and he eventually sat up to ride at his own speed.

Carthy and Lutsenko settled into a high-speed chase as they caught and passed Kuss halfway up the climb. Lutsenko looked over his shoulder to see teammate and overnight leader Vlasov make his way across, and the pair of Astana riders tried to limit their losses in the GC. 

Quintana started the day just 34 seconds behind Vlasov and so when his lead grew from 18 seconds to 45 seconds he knew he was in contention for both the stage win and the overall lead. He then pushed that lead out to 1:28, which all but secured the overall victory ahead of the final stage on Sunday.

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