Anthony Perez wins opening stage at Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var

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Anthony Perez (Cofidis) won the opening stage at Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var after winning a breakaway sprint in Grasse. The Frenchman was part of a four-rider breakaway that was reduced to two on the final climb where he out-paced  Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie) for the stage victory and the first leader's jersey.

Michael Storer (Team Sunweb) led in the reduced field for third place ahead of defending overall champion Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).

Perez now leads the overall classification ahead of the second stage of the three-day race, 175km that will begin in Pégomas and end with another short final climb to Col d'Eze.

How it unfolded

There was nothing easy about the opening stage at Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var, formerly known as Tour du Haut-Var. As expected, the three-day mountainous race has attracted some of the world’s best climbers to its start line with 2019 race winner Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), AG2R La Mondiale's Romain Bardet, Trek-Segafredo's Richie Porte and the recent winner of the Tour de la Provence, Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic). 

The 186.8km race began in Le Cannet and included two category 3 climbs at Col du Tanneron (28.5km) and mid-stage at Col de la Leque (99.5km). The two climbs were nestled in a largely undulating course that also included a tough two-part finishing climb to Grasse. The last climb started with roughly 16km to go with an 8km section, followed by a short descent and then a 2km steeper kick to the finish.

A four-man breakaway that included Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (NTT Pro Cycling) and Nigel Ellsay (Rally Cycling), cleared the field early on. 

Their gap quickly pushed out to 1:40 and then upwards of six minutes over first categorised climb of the Col du Tanneron just 28km into the stage, where Turgis picked up full points. He added to his point tally by crossing the line first over the next KOM at Col de la Leque (99.5km) and so secured the first mountain classification jersey of the race.

There were three intermediate sprints along the way and Perez took full points in the first two sprints through Moise Puginier (57km) and first time crossing through the finish line (118km). Those points combined with points he picked up in the third intermediate sprint and at the finish line netted him the lead in that classification as well.

The breakaway still had a gap of 5:20 with 40km to go but was cut to 2:30 inside 20km, as Ellsay was dropped, and teams EF Pro Cycling, Ag2r la Mondiale and Arkea-Samsic led the main field.

Even with 4km to go, Perez, Turgis and Janse Van Rensburg maintained 1:20.

Perez was the first to make a move at the bottom of the short final climb to the finish. It put Janse Van Rensburg into difficulty but Turgis hung on through the final kilometre.

Perez kicked again in the last few hundred metres to take the stage win. Turgis finished one second behind in second place but just ahead of Storer, who led the reduced main group in for third place.

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