Tour de la Provence: Coquard uses long sprint to win stage 2

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Bryan Coquard claimed his second victory of the season on stage 2 of the Tour de la Provence, finishing off a strong team display from Cofidis with a searing acceleration on the uphill finish in Manosque. 

The 29-year-old, who moved from B&B Hotels to Cofidis in the winter and won a stage of the recent Etoile de Bessèges, beat Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and race leader Filippo Gonna (Ineos Grenadiers) in the scrambled sprint from a reduced peloton. 

The 2km drag to the line in Manosque came at the end of a hilly stage that had already whittled the bunch down to 50 riders and played host to a sprint between a varied cast of characters; rounding out the top five were the contrasting figures of Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) and Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic).

With both Elia Viviani and Ethan Hayter dropped on the Col de l’Aire dei Masco with 25km to go, and with Richard Carapaz not starting due to a COVID-19 positive, Gonna took it upon himself to defend his lead and try for a third stage win for his team.

The Italian found himself on the front for a moment with 400 metres to go and then launched as Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) made a long-range bid for victory. But Coquard soon burst through with a devastating acceleration. 

Alaphilippe, churning a huge gear, was able to move past Gonna and into the slipstream of the diminutive Frenchman but was never able to think about getting around. 

For Coquard, it was further vindication for his move to Cofidis and for the team themselves it was redemption after their miserable afternoon on Friday. After failing to get anyone into the decisive echelon on stage 1, they came out swinging on Saturday, chasing the five-man breakaway all day before lighting up the race and shredding the bunch on the key category-two climb of the Col de l’Aire dei Masco. 

They needed some assistance to claw back the dogged last survivor of the break, Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels), on the run-in but still had strength and invention to use on the final incline. Pierre-Luc Perichon pinged off the front and led in the final kilometre, forcing QuickStep to use up Dries Devenyns while Coquard sat back and prepared to make his race-winning acceleration. 

With bonus seconds factored in, Ganna retains the black leader’s jersey, although his lead over Alaphilippe has been halved, while Latour remains in third place overall. 

The Tour de la Provence concludes with the decisive summit finish at Montagne de Lure on Sunday afternoon.