The day after the Classic Var won by the Italian Christian Scaroni, the peloton was back on the roads. On a very demanding 162 km route, it was Christian Scaroni who triumphed at the summit of the Col de Gourdon.
For this first stage of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes, the peloton set off in the heart of the Loup Valley. On the schedule for the day, four categorized climbs awaited the riders throughout the 162 km to be covered. The stage was intended for a climbing adventurer like Christian Scaroni, already a winner yesterday on the Classic Var, or other riders like Richard Carapaz, Santiago Buitrago, or the Frenchmen Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Guillaume Martin. Notably, the stage also featured local rider Clément Champoussin, who transferred to XDS Astana this season. The Cannes native Lenny Martinez was also among the day’s favorites.
Right from the start, a breakaway of six riders took the lead. This small group, including Mattéo Vercher, who suffered a major but inconsequential crash, managed to gain up to two minutes of advantage. However, the breakaway stood little chance of success. It was eventually caught with less than 35 km to go due to the efforts of the EF Education – EasyPost team.
The EF team trapped by Bahrain
The men in pink accelerated during the double ascent of the Col de Gourdon. The selection was made from the back. At the summit of the first climb, only about forty riders remained. In the descent, Andrea Vendrame from the Décathlon AG2R La Mondiale team managed to break away from the peloton, but his attempt ended 8.2 km from the finish as the gradient steepened.
Behind, while an attack from Richard Carapaz was anticipated, as he had his men working all day, it was ultimately Santiago Buitrago who took his chance. He was followed by his teammates Lenny Martinez and Christian Scaroni once more. The Cannes native selflessly sacrificed himself to set up his leader in the best conditions for the last 500 meters. However, as the Colombian launched his sprint, he was caught off guard by the surprising Christian Scaroni, who managed to block him along the barriers to cross the line as the winner. A second victory in two days for the Italian, who thus takes the lead in the general classification.
Tomorrow, the peloton will set off from Villefranche-sur-Mer to reach Vence.
