Tour de la Provence: Sosa wins on Mont Ventoux

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Ivan Sosa won stage 3 of the Tour de la Provence to become the new overall leader of the race, in what was a typically dominant mountain top performance on Mont Ventoux from Ineos Grenadiers. 

The 23-year-old Colombian made his race-winning attack 5km from the summit at Chalet Reynard after his young teammate Carlos Rodriguez produced a superb turn at the front of the peloton to whittle the bunch.

Behind, their teammate Egan Bernal was best of the rest to finish second, with world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in third. 

On a cold day, where the riders’ heavy breaths were visible while climbing the famous Ventoux ascent, Ineos Grenadiers executed their plan perfectly. Contradictory statements from Sosa and Bernal had left it unclear which rider would lead the team, but it turned out that both riders were strong enough to win today. Sosa made the winning attack, but the way Bernal marked Alaphilippe in the chase behind indicated that the former Tour champion is returning to his old self. 

For Sosa, who has shown huge potential and has already won multiple stage races such as the Vuelta a Burgos, this was arguably his best day yet as a pro.

As expected, there were fireworks on Mont Ventoux, as all the favourites battled for what was the Queen stage of the race. No one had any answer to Sosa’s attack, however, and the Colombian was able to solo to the finish without ever looking like getting caught. 

Carrying a lead of nineteen seconds on GC over second-place Bernal ahead of tomorrow’s mostly flat stage, Sosa should bar accidents, seal overall victory.

How it unfolded

The third and penultimate stage of the 2021 Tour de la Provence was always going to be where the GC was decided. With no major climbs on either of the preceding two stages, and another mostly flat day awaiting them tomorrow, the finishing climb of Mont Ventoux was comfortably the most difficult and selective test of the race.

Although finishing at Chalet Reynard rather than climbing to the famous summit of Mont Ventoux, the climb still stood to give a rude awakening to riders still easing their way into the new season, with an average gradient of over 9 per cent for its 9.7km.

Circumstances were made even more difficult by the weather, with very cold conditions prompting most to cover up in arm warmers, jackets and gloves; although, unlike yesterday, the riders were at least spared rain.

Encouraged by the rare opportunity to reach the base of one of cycling’s most iconic climbs at the front of the race, many riders attempted to get into the break at the start of the stage.

Eventually, a six-man group was formed, featuring Damien Gaudin (Total Direct Energie), Louis Louvet (St Michel-Auber93), Alessandro Fedeli (Delko), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal), Jerome Cousin (Total Direct Energie) and Nicola Bagioli (B&B Hotels p/b KTM). 

They managed to open a gap of around three and a half minutes, but no more than that, as Deceuninck-QuickStep, Ineos Grenadiers, Astana Premier-Tech and Trek-Segafredo all asserted themselves at the front of the peloton in the hope of setting up their leaders for the win. 

Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Zdenek Stybar upped the pace on the rolling terrain leading up to Mont Ventoux, stringing the bunch out in single file and temporarily causing a few small gaps. His effort saw the gap dip below three minutes, and it continued to fall as the climb approached, but it wasn’t until the break reached its lower slopes that their advantage started to plummet. 

Astana Premier-Tech took up the pace at the start of the climb, causing overall leader Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-QuickStep) to, as expected, be dropped. Their rider Harold Tejada then attacked 9km from the summit, prompting Ineos Grenadiers to take control of the peloton and lead the chase. 

Tejada caught and passed Vermeersch and Fedeli, the last two survivors from the early break, and was joined by Bora-Hansgrohe’s Matteo Fabro. But their time at the front of the race was short-lived, as the Ineos-led peloton brought them back 7.6km from the finish. 

Ineos continued to ride tempo, with young Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez announcing himself on the world stage by putting in a monster turn to thin the bunch down to not much more than a dozen riders by the 5km to go point. 

Once Rodriguez was finished, Ineos teammate Sosa made his move, immediately opening up a large gap with a vicious acceleration. Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Mauri Vansevenant led the chase group in service of team leader Alaphilippe, until the Frenchman launched his own attack within the final 4km, with Sosa’s teammate Egan Bernal clinging to his wheel.

With 2.5km to go, Sosa held a gap of about 20km over Alaphilippe and Bernal. That duo were joined by Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious), but even with the assistance, the Dutchman provided, Sosa’s lead remained steady, and he remained out front until the finish. 

Having frustrated the others by sitting on their wheels (due to his teammate leading the race up the road), Bernal launched his own attacks in the last couple of kilometres, succeeding first in dropping Poels and then Alaphilippe. 

With a bunch sprint expected in tomorrow’s fourth and final stage, Sosa should have overall victory wrapped up.