2024 Le Tour de la Provence (2.1), France

February 8 - 11, 2024

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Sunday, February 11: 3rd & Final Stage, Rognac - Arles, 183.2 km

Stage 3 map & profile

Tom Van Asbroeck wins the final stage. Sirotti photo

Plato's dialogue Crito is available both in audiobook and Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Arles at 1:50 PM, local time: 16C (60F), partly cloudy, with the wind from the northwest at 29 km/hr (18 mph). There is just a 1% chance of rain.

The race: Here's the report from GC winner Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek.

Having won every stage so far, all eyes were on Mads Pedersen to see if he could take a clean sweep at Tour de la Provence. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be in the end, however Lidl-Trek leaves the race with its hands full after claiming the overall victory, three stages and the points classification.

After battling torrential rain for the last two stages, now it was time to fight with the wind (but at least it was dry!) The peloton split as it was buffeted by the wind, leaving 26 in front – a combination of the early breakaway and those who found their way into the front split.

The day's early break. Sirotti photo

Lidl-Trek’s remaining five riders were all present in the lead group, after Ryan Gibbons was unable to start due to illness, and Julien Bernard stopped the race after fulfilling his duties. Eventually, it came down to a sprint finish in Arles, and forced to go early, Mads Pedersen was passed before the line, finishing fifth with Van Asbroeck (Israel Premier Tech) taking the win. Whilst a clean sweep would have been nice, three out of four isn’t bad, right?

Stage winner Tom Van Asbroeck. Sirotti photo

A word from Mads:
“It was a bit of everything and today we had crosswinds, so definitely a good week for us and we’re happy. It was a long sprint today and I ran out of legs and faster guys beat me in the end. They did a super job so congrats. It made sense that we had the entire team in the front group, we are basically a classics squad here and I’d say that 80% of them are specialists in the crosswinds. It was nice to pin on the numbers again and start racing this early, and definitely with the results we got this week it was super nice.”

2024 Tour de la Provence winner Mads Pedersen. Sirotti photo

Complete results:

183.2 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.863 km/hr

1	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	4hr 10min 36sec
2	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
3	Axel Zingle	Cofidis	s.t.
4	Hugo Hofstetter	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
5	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
6	Jérémy Lecroq	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
7	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
8	Sandy Dujardin	TotalEnergies	s.t.
9	Samuel Watson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
10	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
11	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
12	Christophe Noppe	Cofidis	s.t.
13	Joris Delbove	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
14	Kévin Avoine	Van Rysel-Roubaix	@ 7sec
15	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
16	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
17	Kasper Saver	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
18	Damien Touzé	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
19	Thibaut Bernard	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
20	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	0:13
21	Lawrence Warbasse	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	0:17
22	Alexis Gougeard	Cofidis	s.t.
23	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	0:38
24	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
25	Jakob Söderqvist	Lidl-Trek	0:51
26	Fabien Grellier	TotalEnergies	s.t.
27	Mason Hollyman	Israel-Premier Tech	3:26
28	Nans Peters	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
29	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
30	Etienne Van Empel	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
31	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
32	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
33	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
34	Clément Champoussin	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
35	Lukasz Owsian	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
36	Tyler Stites	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
37	Andrey Remkhe	Astana Qazaqstan Development	5:32
38	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
39	Alexander Salby	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
40	Giosue Epis	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
41	Alessandro Iacchi	Corratec-Vini Fantini	5:36
42	Mathias Vanoverberghe	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
43	Célestin Guillon	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
44	Melvin Crommelinck	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
45	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
46	Tom Portsmouth	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
47	Jon Rye-Johnsen	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
48	Eddy Le Huitouze	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
49	Robin Plamondon	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
50	Matthew Walls	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
51	Andrea Biancalani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
52	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
53	Alexandre Delettre	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	5:36
54	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
55	Rudolf Remkhi	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
56	Hugo Scala Jr	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
57	Cade Bickmore	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
58	Lucas Boniface	TotalEnergies	s.t.
59	Alexis Guérin	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
60	Samuel Boardman	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
61	Brendan Rhim	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
62	Simone Zanini	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
63	Mattéo Vercher	TotalEnergies	s.t.
64	Ilkhan Dostiyev	Astana Qazaqstan Development	13:33
65	Edoardo Burani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	22:29
66	Nil Aguilera	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
67	Alexandre Léonien	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
68	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	22:33

 

Final GC after stage 3:

• GC winner: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Mountains classification winner: Kévin Avoine (Van Rysel-Roubaix)
• Points classification winner: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Best young rider: Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale)
• Teams classification winner: Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale

510.4 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.976 km/hr

1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	11hr 52min 35sec
2	Axel Zingle	Cofidis	@ 29sec
3	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
4	Damien Touzé	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:36
5	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	1:41
6	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:46
7	Alexis Gougeard	Cofidis	2:02
8	Jakob Söderqvist	Lidl-Trek	2:14
9	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	2:38
10	Samuel Watson	Groupama-FDJ	3:45
11	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	3:45
12	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	3:53
13	Clément Champoussin	Arkea-B&B Hotels	4:01
14	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	4:03
15	Tyler Stites	Project Echelon Racing	4:04
16	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	4:06
17	Sandy Dujardin	TotalEnergies	4:07
18	Lawrence Warbasse	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	4:20
19	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	4:57
20	Nans Peters	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	5:09
21	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	5:59
22	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	6:11
23	Alexandre Delettre	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	6:30
24	Célestin Guillon	Van Rysel-Roubaix	7:24
25	Lukasz Owsian	Arkea-B&B Hotels	7:35
26	Etienne Van Empel	Corratec-Vini Fantini	7:46
27	Kévin Avoine	Van Rysel-Roubaix	8:54
28	Christophe Noppe	Cofidis	9:28
29	Eddy Le Huitouze	Groupama-FDJ	9:30
30	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	9:33
31	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	9:56
32	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	9:56
33	Alessandro Iacchi	Corratec-Vini Fantini	10:01
34	Robin Plamondon	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	10:45
35	Jérémy Lecroq	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	10:55
36	Hugo Hofstetter	Israel-Premier Tech	10:56
37	Thibaut Bernard	Bingoal-WB	10:57
38	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	11:06
39	Kasper Saver	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	11:16
40	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	11:34
41	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	11:36
42	Fabien Grellier	TotalEnergies	11:58
43	Joris Delbove	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	12:59
44	Alexis Guérin	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	13:03
45	Andrey Remkhe	Astana Qazaqstan Development	14:10
46	Mathias Vanoverberghe	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	15:36
47	Giosue Epis	Arkea-B&B Hotels	16:40
48	Hugo Scala Jr	Project Echelon Racing	16:42
49	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	16:45
50	Alexander Salby	Bingoal-WB	16:51
51	Jon Rye-Johnsen	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	16:55
52	Mattéo Vercher	TotalEnergies	17:03
53	Mason Hollyman	Israel-Premier Tech	17:21
54	Rudolf Remkhi	Astana Qazaqstan Development	18:00
55	Cade Bickmore	Project Echelon Racing	18:12
56	Simone Zanini	Astana Qazaqstan Development	19:37
57	Andrea Biancalani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	20:24
58	Matthew Walls	Groupama-FDJ	22:01
59	Lucas Boniface	TotalEnergies	24:14
60	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	26:41
61	Ilkhan Dostiyev	Astana Qazaqstan Development	29:44
62	Tom Portsmouth	Bingoal-WB	29:55
63	Samuel Boardman	Project Echelon Racing	31:27
64	Melvin Crommelinck	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	31:55
65	Brendan Rhim	Project Echelon Racing	32:02
66	Edoardo Burani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	37:44
67	Nil Aguilera	Astana Qazaqstan Development	39:20
68	Alexandre Léonien	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	39:26

 

Stage 3 map & profile:

Stage 3 map

Stage 3 profile

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Saturday, February 10: Stage 2, Forcalquier - Manosque, 165 km

Stage 2 map & profile

Mads Pedersen wins his third stage in a row. Getty photo

Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 2: 1976 - 2018 is available in print, Kindle eBook & Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Manosque at 1:25 PM, local time: 10C (50F), heavy rain, with the wind from the southeast at 14 km/hr (9 mph). The rain should end around 3:00 PM.

The race: Here's the report from winner Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek.

With a weather forecast even worse than the day before, Lidl-Trek donned their Santini rain jackets and got to work. Ignoring the cold temperatures and constant downpour, Otto Vergaerde and Tim Declercq assumed the responsibility of keeping the breakaway under control ahead of the category 1 climb. On the slopes of Col de l’Aire dei Masco, the most significant climb of the whole race, the breakaway began to split as Lidl-Trek continued the chase. With four kilometers to the summit, rivals began to attack, hoping to drop Pedersen. However, the Dane was up to the task and followed each move. At the top of the climb the gap to the peloton was around one minute, and with four riders in the chase group Lidl-Trek were able to reduce the gap significantly.

The group split at the intermediate sprint with 15km to go, leaving Pedersen isolated in front. The former World Champion was forced to assume the lion’s share of the work to reel in the leader, but eventually caught him with 500 meters to go. With his legs already stinging from the chase, Pedersen had to lead out the sprint, but had enough left in the tank to sprint to the win ahead of Zingle (Cofidis), before collapsing over the handlebars in exhaustion.

The winner’s words:
“[My teammates] are incredible. Every day they have to dig deeper and deeper as the race gets harder. So far they have been super impressive and I’m so proud of them. I’m happy to repay them with victories after all their hard work. Huge compliments to all of my teammates.

"Sometimes you have to take the chance and today I had to take the chance here. The boys were working so hard but it started to be tight to catch the leader because he was going – excuse my words – f***ing strong in the front so it was not easy to deal with him at all, so I hoped a smaller group would be better. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t, but today it did.

"At the intermediate sprint there was still one second up for grabs and I thought ‘I need to take that second’, so I sprinted and then looked back and there was a bit of a gap because there was a right/left corner just after the intermediate sprint. I saw the gap and that my teammates were pulling so they stopped and I kept going so I could make the split. In the end it was really on instinct, grabbing the feeling and hoping for the best, because it was a tough, tough situation we were in and the guys had already been working for a long, long time. I thought it would be good to be in a smaller group where everyone would take a turn but they didn’t like to.

"I am just happy to win and, again, give the guys the victory they deserved. They worked really hard and it was not an easy day. It was a really strong breakaway and it was not easy to catch. I took a pull and then, I have quite a big gearing, and it was slightly downhill and so I saw the guys, the Arkea guys there in the group so I saw them slow off a little bit from closing the gap to me so I just went in aero position and used my big gear so they had to work a little bit. I am not racing to make other guys suffer, I am racing to win so it’s enjoyable to raise the arms when you are passing the finish line. Tomorrow is a sprint stage and we have good sprinters here as well so we will see. I think we are pretty happy with the race so far and anything could happen tomorrow and we will leave this lovely region with a smile on our faces.

"I agree with Julien Bernard that it was one of the worst days on the bike. It was not an enjoyable day. We spent a lot of time around 700m elevation which isn’t nice when it’s raining like this and it’s two degrees. It was a tough day for everyone, and if you look at the guys crossing the finish line, they don’t look great.”

Complete results:

165 kilometers raced at an average speed of 40.521 km/hr

1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	4hr 4min 19sec
2	Axel Zingle	Cofidis	s.t.
3	Clément Champoussin	Arkea-B&B Hotels	@ 2sec
4	Tyler Stites	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
5	Alexandre Delettre	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
6	Riley Sheehan	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
7	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
8	Bruno Armirail	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
9	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
10	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
11	Marco Frigo	Israel-Premier Tech	0:12
12	Nans Peters	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:03
13	Damien Touzé	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
14	Célestin Guillon	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
15	Jakob Söderqvist	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
16	Mattéo Vercher	TotalEnergies	s.t.
17	Alexis Gougeard	Cofidis	s.t.
18	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:17
19	Alexis Guérin	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	@1:03
20	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	21:03
21	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	2:09
22	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	2:18
23	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	@1:03
24	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
25	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	3:20
26	Jelle Vermoote	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
27	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
28	Samuel Watson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
29	Simone Zanini	Astana Qazaqstan Development	3:22
30	Etienne Van Empel	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
31	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
32	Eddy Le Huitouze	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
33	Sandy Dujardin	TotalEnergies	s.t.
34	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
35	Alessandro Iacchi	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
36	Lawrence Warbasse	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
37	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
38	Jérémy Cabot	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
39	Lukasz Owsian	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
40	Robin Plamondon	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
41	Riley Pickrell	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
42	Ryan Gibbons	Lidl-Trek	3:29
43	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
44	Rémy Rochas	Groupama-FDJ	3:33
45	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
46	Joris Delbove	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	3:48
47	Matteo Amella	Corratec-Vini Fantini	4:01
48	Andrey Remkhe	Astana Qazaqstan Development	7:49
49	Kévin Avoine	Van Rysel-Roubaix	7:58
50	Gabriel Fede	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	8:18
51	Baptiste Gillet	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
52	Lucas Bénéteau	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
53	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	8:45
54	Valentin Darbellay	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
55	Christophe Noppe	Cofidis	s.t.
56	Mason Hollyman	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
57	Mathias Vanoverberghe	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	9:16
58	Giosue Epis	Arkea-B&B Hotels	10:15
59	Luca De Meester	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
60	Jonas Reibsch	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
61	David Dekker	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
62	Jérémy Lecroq	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
63	Jérémy Leveau	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
64	Hugo Hofstetter	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
65	Rudolf Remkhi	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
66	Alexander Salby	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
67	Enzo Boulet	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
68	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
69	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
70	Jon Rye-Johnsen	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
71	Nathan Vandepitte	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
72	Hugo Scala Jr	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
73	Samuel Boardman	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
74	Andrea Biancalani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
75	Simone Impellizzeri	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
76	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
77	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
78	Fabien Grellier	TotalEnergies	s.t.
79	Jan Stöckli	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
80	Kasper Saver	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
81	Ludovic Robeet	Cofidis	s.t.
82	Thibaut Bernard	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
83	Cade Bickmore	Project Echelon Racing	11:09
84	Tom Portsmouth	Bingoal-WB	13:36
85	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
86	Edoardo Burani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	14:17
87	Antoine Debons	Corratec-Vini Fantini	14:19
88	Noah Knecht	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	14:35
89	Nil Aguilera	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
90	Alexandre Léonien	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
91	Nicolas Breuillard	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
92	Alan Jousseaume	TotalEnergies	s.t.
93	Nicola Rossi	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	15:00
94	Enzo Briand	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
95	Ilkhan Dostiyev	Astana Qazaqstan Development	15:14
96	Matthew Walls	Groupama-FDJ	15:37
97	Lucas Boniface	TotalEnergies	s.t.
98	Quentin Bezza	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
99	Melvin Crommelinck	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
100	Brendan Rhim	Project Echelon Racing	15:39
101	Scott McGill	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.

 

GC after stage 2:

• GC leader: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Mountains classification leader: Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech)
• Points classification leader: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Best young rider: Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels)
• Teams classification leader: Arkéa-B&B Hotels

327.2 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 42.490 km/hr

1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	7hr 42min 2sec
2	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	@ 24sec
3	Bruno Armirail	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
4	Riley Sheehan	Israel-Premier Tech	0:25
5	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	0:26
6	Axel Zingle	Cofidis	0:30
7	Clément Champoussin	Arkea-B&B Hotels	0:32
8	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	0:34
9	Tyler Stites	Project Echelon Racing	0:35
10	Marco Frigo	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
11	Alexandre Delettre	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	0:51
12	Jakob Söderqvist	Lidl-Trek	1:20
13	Damien Touzé	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:26
14	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	1:27
15	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:28
16	Nans Peters	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:40
17	Alexis Gougeard	Cofidis	1:42
18	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:43
19	Célestin Guillon	Van Rysel-Roubaix	1:45
20	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	2:41
21	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	2:42
22	Samuel Watson	Groupama-FDJ	3:42
23	Jérémy Cabot	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	3:45
24	Eddy Le Huitouze	Groupama-FDJ	3:51
25	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	3:52
26	Jelle Vermoote	Bingoal-WB	3:54
27	Ryan Gibbons	Lidl-Trek	3:55
28	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	3:57
29	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	3:58
30	Riley Pickrell	Israel-Premier Tech	4:00
31	Lawrence Warbasse	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
32	Rémy Rochas	Groupama-FDJ	4:03
33	Sandy Dujardin	TotalEnergies	4:04
34	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	4:05
35	Lukasz Owsian	Arkea-B&B Hotels	4:06
36	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	4:17
37	Etienne Van Empel	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
38	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
39	Alessandro Iacchi	Corratec-Vini Fantini	4:22
40	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	4:40
41	Robin Plamondon	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	5:06
42	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	5:49
43	Alexis Guérin	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	7:24
44	Andrey Remkhe	Astana Qazaqstan Development	8:35
45	Kévin Avoine	Van Rysel-Roubaix	8:47
46	Baptiste Gillet	Arkea-B&B Hotels	8:52
47	Lucas Bénéteau	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	9:09
48	Christophe Noppe	Cofidis	9:25
49	Valentin Darbellay	Corratec-Vini Fantini	9:29
50	Matteo Amella	Corratec-Vini Fantini	9:34
51	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	9:51
52	Mathias Vanoverberghe	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	9:57
53	Gabriel Fede	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	9:57
54	David Dekker	Arkea-B&B Hotels	10:42
55	Thibaut Bernard	Bingoal-WB	10:47
56	Jérémy Lecroq	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	10:52
57	Hugo Hofstetter	Israel-Premier Tech	10:53
58	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
59	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	10:55
60	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	11:03
61	Hugo Scala Jr	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
62	Giosue Epis	Arkea-B&B Hotels	11:05
63	Nathan Vandepitte	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
64	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	11:06
65	Fabien Grellier	TotalEnergies	s.t.
66	Kasper Saver	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	11:07
67	Enzo Boulet	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	11:12
68	Luca De Meester	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
69	Jon Rye-Johnsen	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	11:16
70	Alexander Salby	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
71	Mattéo Vercher	TotalEnergies	11:24
72	Jan Stöckli	Corratec-Vini Fantini	11:48
73	Ludovic Robeet	Cofidis	11:59
74	Simone Impellizzeri	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	12:04
75	Jérémy Leveau	Van Rysel-Roubaix	12:21
76	Rudolf Remkhi	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
77	Cade Bickmore	Project Echelon Racing	12:33
78	Joris Delbove	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	12:56
79	Mason Hollyman	Israel-Premier Tech	13:52
80	Simone Zanini	Astana Qazaqstan Development	13:58
81	Andrea Biancalani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	14:45
82	Edoardo Burani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	15:12
83	Ilkhan Dostiyev	Astana Qazaqstan Development	16:08
84	Matthew Walls	Groupama-FDJ	16:22
85	Scott McGill	Project Echelon Racing	16:29
86	Nil Aguilera	Astana Qazaqstan Development	16:48
87	Alexandre Léonien	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	16:54
88	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	17:56
89	Lucas Boniface	TotalEnergies	18:35
90	Noah Knecht	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	18:36
91	Jonas Reibsch	Astana Qazaqstan Development	18:39
92	Tom Portsmouth	Bingoal-WB	24:16
93	Antoine Debons	Corratec-Vini Fantini	24:55
94	Alan Jousseaume	TotalEnergies	25:01
95	Nicolas Breuillard	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	25:02
96	Enzo Briand	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	25:39
97	Quentin Bezza	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	25:41
98	Samuel Boardman	Project Echelon Racing	25:48
99	Nicola Rossi	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	25:56
100	Melvin Crommelinck	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	26:16
101	Brendan Rhim	Project Echelon Racing	26:02

 

Stage 2 map & profile:

Stage 2 map

Stage 2 profile

---

Friday, February 9: Stage 1, Aix-en-Provence - Martigues, 157.2

Stage 1 map & profile

Mads Pedersen wins his second stage in a row, this time under apppalling conditions. La Provence photo

Les Woodland's book Sticky Buns Across America: Back-roads biking from sea to shining sea is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Martigues at 1:10 PM, local time: 13C (56F), heavy rain, with the wind from the southeast at 32 km/hr (20 mph). The rain is forecast to continue all afternoon.

The race: Here is a machine translation of the race organizer's stage one report.

This Friday, Mads Pedersen won the 1st stage of the Tour de La Provence between Aix-en-Provence and Martigues. A stage which was marked by rain, even if no incidents were reported. In the general classification, the Dane remains leader.

The sky fell on their heads. This Friday, the first stage between Aix-en-Provence and Martigues was marked by Dantean conditions with heavy rain which fell on the peloton throughout the day.

A dog's weather which encouraged the teams to be extremely careful throughout the 157.2 km, and also the organizers who decided to cancel the bonuses during the intermediate sprints and at the finish, but also to neutralize the time 5 km from the end of the stage. A decision which made it possible to calm down the final race, relieved of any pressure for the general classification, while the sprint once again smiled on Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

The escapees caught 6 km from the finish
Certainly, six riders attempted the adventure by forming a breakaway, no doubt they hoped that the weather conditions would help them in their risky enterprise. But Lidl-Trek, the formation of Mads Pedersen, leader of the general after his victory in the prologue in Marseille on Thursday, did not leave the leisure to Kévin Avoine (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Alexis Gougeard (Cofidis), Thomas Bonnet (TotalEnergies), Alexis Guérin (Philippe Wagner-Bazin), Robin Plamondon (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) and Jonathan Couanon (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur) to distance themselves from the peloton, controlling the gap. At most, the latter will have had a lead of 2'30" before being caught just 6 km from the finish. Cruel but predictable.

Pedersen more than ever the leader
As expected, despite the vagaries of the sky, the stage victory was decided by a sprint in the Venice of Provence. In this exercise, it was once again Mads Pedersen who showed himself to be the strongest, and perhaps the most skilful also on the wet bitumen, ahead of the Frenchman Axel Zingle (Cofidis). In the general classification, nothing changes compared to the day before, the Dane still remains the leader of the event, ahead of her teammate Jakob Söderqvist, 2nd, and Samuel Watson (Groupama-FDJ), 3rd at 11".

On Saturday, the Tour de La Provence peloton will gain height with a stage in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, between Forcalquier and Manosque (165 km) with three listed passes, which could well be the justice of the peace of this 8th edition, knowing that the weather should still do its thing. The runners may not have finished seeing the sky fall on their heads.

Complete results:

157.2 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.375 km/hr

Because of the terrible weather there were no bonus times given. Also, the GC times were taken 5 kilometers from the finish.

1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	3hr 32min 35sec
2	Axel Zingle	Cofidis	s.t.
3	Riley Pickrell	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
4	Samuel Watson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
5	Enzo Boulet	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
6	Jérémy Lecroq	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
7	Sandy Dujardin	TotalEnergies	s.t.
8	David Dekker	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
9	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
10	Jon Rye-Johnsen	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
11	Rudy Barbier	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
12	Tyler Stites	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
13	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
14	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
15	Scott McGill	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
16	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
17	Jelle Vermoote	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
18	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
19	Hugo Hofstetter	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
20	Kasper Saver	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
21	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
22	Nathan Vandepitte	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
23	Hugo Scala Jr	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
24	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
25	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
26	Giosue Epis	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
27	Damien Touzé	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
28	Alexandre Delettre	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
29	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
30	Ryan Gibbons	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
31	Riley Sheehan	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
32	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
33	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
34	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
35	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
36	Jakob Söderqvist	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
37	Clément Champoussin	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
38	Christophe Noppe	Cofidis	s.t.
39	Andrey Remkhe	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
40	Edoardo Burani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
41	Mathias Vanoverberghe	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
42	Alexander Salby	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
43	Eddy Le Huitouze	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
44	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
45	Luca De Meester	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
46	Ilkhan Dostiyev	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
47	Etienne Van Empel	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
48	Lukasz Owsian	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
49	Baptiste Gillet	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
50	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
51	Valentin Darbellay	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
52	Alessandro Iacchi	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
53	Bruno Armirail	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
54	Marco Frigo	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
55	Nans Peters	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
56	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
57	Célestin Guillon	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
58	Rémy Rochas	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
59	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
60	Lucas Bénéteau	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
61	Pierre Barbier	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
62	Fabien Grellier	TotalEnergies	s.t.
63	Thibaut Bernard	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
64	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	s.t.
65	Kévin Avoine	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
66	Alexis Gougeard	Cofidis	s.t.
67	Lawrence Warbasse	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
68	Jan Stöckli	Corratec-Vini Fantini	@ 33sec
69	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
70	Gabriel Fede	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
71	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	@ 0sec
72	Cade Bickmore	Project Echelon Racing	0:33
73	Simone Impellizzeri	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
74	Robin Plamondon	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	0:47
75	Jérémy Cabot	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	@ 0sec
76	Matthew Walls	Groupama-FDJ	@ 0sec
77	Nil Aguilera	Astana Qazaqstan Development	1:11
78	Rudolf Remkhi	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
79	Alexandre Léonien	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
80	Ludovic Robeet	Cofidis	s.t.
81	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	1:23
82	Jérémy Leveau	Van Rysel-Roubaix	1:26
83	Lucas Boniface	TotalEnergies	2:17
84	Noah Knecht	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	3:05
85	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
86	Antoine Hue	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	3:25
87	Andrea Biancalani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
88	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
89	Mason Hollyman	Israel-Premier Tech	4:27
90	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
91	Matteo Amella	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
92	Alexis Guérin	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	5:24
93	Jonas Reibsch	Astana Qazaqstan Development	7:28
94	Alan Jousseaume	TotalEnergies	@ 9min 37sec
95	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	s.t.
96	Brendan Rhim	Project Echelon Racing	10:07
97	Alex Raimondi	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	@ 9min 37sec
98	Enzo Briand	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
99	Simone Zanini	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
100	Michael Vanni	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
101	Antoine Debons	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
102	Quentin Bezza	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
103	Melvin Crommelinck	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
104	Joris Delbove	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	@ 8min 23sec
105	Nicolas Breuillard	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	@ 9min 37sec
106	Tom Portsmouth	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
107	Nicola Rossi	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
108	Mattéo Vercher	TotalEnergies	s.t.
109	Samuel Boardman	Project Echelon Racing	14:35
110	Richard Arnopol	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
111	Artus Jaladeau	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	16:57

 

GC after stage 1:

• GC leader: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Mountains classification leader: Kévin Avoine (Van Rysel-Roubaix)
• Points classification leader: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Best young rider: Jakob Soderqvist (Lidl-Trek)
• Teams classification leader: Lidl-Trek

162.2 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 44.663 km/hr

1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	3hr 37min 54sec
2	Jakob Söderqvist	Lidl-Trek	@ 6sec
3	Samuel Watson	Groupama-FDJ	0:11
4	Bruno Armirail	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
5	Riley Sheehan	Israel-Premier Tech	0:12
6	Jérémy Cabot	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
7	Damien Touzé	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
8	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
9	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
10	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	0:13
11	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
12	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	0:14
13	Ryan Gibbons	Lidl-Trek	0:15
14	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
15	David Dekker	Arkea-B&B Hotels	0:16
16	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	0:17
17	Marco Frigo	Israel-Premier Tech	0:18
18	Eddy Le Huitouze	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
19	Rémy Rochas	Groupama-FDJ	0:19
20	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	0:21
21	Thibaut Bernard	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
22	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
23	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	0:22
24	Tyler Stites	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
25	Baptiste Gillet	Arkea-B&B Hotels	0:23
26	Jelle Vermoote	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
27	Clément Champoussin	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
28	Axel Zingle	Cofidis	0:25
29	Jérémy Lecroq	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	0:26
30	Nans Peters	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
31	Riley Pickrell	Israel-Premier Tech	0:27
32	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
33	Hugo Hofstetter	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
34	Lawrence Warbasse	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
35	Alexis Gougeard	Cofidis	0:28
36	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	s.t.
37	Christophe Noppe	Cofidis	0:29
38	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
39	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
40	Mathias Vanoverberghe	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	0:30
41	Sandy Dujardin	TotalEnergies	0:31
42	Célestin Guillon	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
43	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	0:32
44	Valentin Darbellay	Corratec-Vini Fantini	0:33
45	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
46	Lukasz Owsian	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
47	Matthew Walls	Groupama-FDJ	0:34
48	Andrey Remkhe	Astana Qazaqstan Development	0:35
49	Hugo Scala Jr	Project Echelon Racing	0:37
50	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
51	Alexandre Delettre	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	0:38
52	Kévin Avoine	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
53	Nathan Vandepitte	Bingoal-WB	0:39
54	Giosue Epis	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
55	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	0:40
56	Fabien Grellier	TotalEnergies	s.t.
57	Lucas Bénéteau	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
58	Scott McGill	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
59	Kasper Saver	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	0:41
60	Ilkhan Dostiyev	Astana Qazaqstan Development	0:43
61	Etienne Van Empel	Corratec-Vini Fantini	0:44
62	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
63	Edoardo Burani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
64	Enzo Boulet	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	0:46
65	Luca De Meester	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
66	Alessandro Iacchi	Corratec-Vini Fantini	0:49
67	Alexander Salby	Bingoal-WB	0:50
68	Jon Rye-Johnsen	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
69	Rudy Barbier	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	0:51
70	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	0:55
71	Pierre Barbier	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	1:01
72	Cade Bickmore	Project Echelon Racing	1:13
73	Jan Stöckli	Corratec-Vini Fantini	1:22
74	Gabriel Fede	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	1:28
75	Ludovic Robeet	Cofidis	1:33
76	Robin Plamondon	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
77	Simone Impellizzeri	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	1:38
78	Rudolf Remkhi	Astana Qazaqstan Development	1:55
79	Jérémy Leveau	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
80	Nil Aguilera	Astana Qazaqstan Development	2:02
81	Alexandre Léonien	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	2:08
82	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	2:16
83	Lucas Boniface	TotalEnergies	2:47
84	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	3:26
85	Noah Knecht	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	3:50
86	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	4:09
87	Antoine Hue	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	4:12
88	Andrea Biancalani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	4:19
89	Mason Hollyman	Israel-Premier Tech	4:56
90	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	5:13
91	Matteo Amella	Corratec-Vini Fantini	5:22
92	Alexis Guérin	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	6:10
93	Jonas Reibsch	Astana Qazaqstan Development	8:13
94	Joris Delbove	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	8:57
95	Quentin Bezza	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	9:53
96	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	10:00
97	Mattéo Vercher	TotalEnergies	10:10
98	Alan Jousseaume	TotalEnergies	10:15
99	Nicolas Breuillard	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	10:16
100	Simone Zanini	Astana Qazaqstan Development	10:25
101	Antoine Debons	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
102	Enzo Briand	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	10:28
103	Melvin Crommelinck	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
104	Tom Portsmouth	Bingoal-WB	10:29
105	Brendan Rhim	Project Echelon Racing	10:33
106	Michael Vanni	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	10:39
107	Nicola Rossi	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	10:45
108	Alex Raimondi	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	10:46
109	Richard Arnopol	Project Echelon Racing	15:15
110	Samuel Boardman	Project Echelon Racing	15:22
111	Artus Jaladeau	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	18:06

 

Stage 1 map & profile:

Stage 1 map

Stage1 profile

---

Thursday, February 8: Marseille Prologue 5-kilometer individual time trial

Prologue map & profile

Mads Pedersen on his way to winning the Prologue. Photo: B.G.

Les Woodland's book Tour of Flanders: The Inside Story - The rocky roads of the Ronde van Vlaanderen is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the race city of Marseille at 1:30 PM, local time: 15C (59F), sunny, with the wind from the southwest at 11 km/hr (6 mph). There is just a 1% chance of rain.

The race: Here's the report from winner Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek.

Lidl-Trek enjoyed a perfect start to Tour de la Provence with Mads Pedersen storming to victory in the Prologue. The Dane started the race as the clear favorite, though few knew what to expect of his 20-year-old Swedish teammate Jakob Söderqvist, who ended the day in second place and best young rider. Söderqvist, a rider from the Lidl-Trek development team, is getting his first experience of racing with the big boys and has wasted no time in showing why he was offered the opportunity.

Pedersen pushed a huge 60-tooth SRAM chainring around the 5km course to stop the clock in 5’20” at a staggering speed of 56.25kmh. Only Söderqvist was able to come close to the Dane, finishing six seconds down.

Mads' Reaction:
You know a win is a win so in the end if it’s 10 seconds or two seconds it doesn’t matter, but of course it’s nice to put in some decent time on the rest of the field already. But, 11 seconds to the opponents from the other teams is not so much. We still have some hard stages to go and the race just started. We’ll try to fight for another win tomorrow and take it day by day. The weather will also be a bit worse tomorrow and we will see how it goes. The young gun (Jakob Söderqvist) will also have to show himself the next few days so I think we will have an exciting week of racing.

Jakob's Reaction:
Right now my body is a bit empty so I don’t feel much at all, it’s a weird feeling but it’s also surreal. I think tonight it will settle a bit and I’m sure it’ll feel pretty good. It was a five-minute effort so it’s like an all-out test. There’s not much pacing to it, just trying not to blow up in the first minute and then just keep holding the power. Some corners could have been better but there’s not a lot to complain about. Today I just had a really good feeling.

Results & GC:

5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 56.426 km/hr

1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	5min 19sec
2	Jakob Söderqvist	Lidl-Trek	@ 6sec
3	Samuel Watson	Groupama-FDJ	0:11
4	Bruno Armirail	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
5	Jérémy Cabot	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	0:12
6	Damien Touzé	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
7	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
8	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	0:13
9	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
10	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	0:14
11	Ryan Gibbons	Lidl-Trek	0:15
12	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
13	Quentin Bezza	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	0:16
14	David Dekker	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
15	Riley Sheehan	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
16	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	0:17
17	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
18	Samuel Leroux	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
19	Marco Frigo	Israel-Premier Tech	0:18
20	Eddy Le Huitouze	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
21	Rémy Rochas	Groupama-FDJ	0:19
22	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	0:21
23	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
24	Thibaut Bernard	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
25	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
26	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	0:22
27	Ludovic Robeet	Cofidis	s.t.
28	Tyler Stites	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
29	Oliver Knight	Cofidis	0:23
30	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	s.t.
31	Baptiste Gillet	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
32	Jelle Vermoote	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
33	Clément Champoussin	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
34	Axel Zingle	Cofidis	0:25
35	Brendan Rhim	Project Echelon Racing	0:26
36	Jérémy Lecroq	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
37	Nans Peters	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	0:27
38	Riley Pickrell	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
39	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
40	Hugo Hofstetter	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
41	Lawrence Warbasse	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
42	Alexis Gougeard	Cofidis	0:28
43	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	s.t.
44	Christophe Noppe	Cofidis	0:29
45	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
46	Mason Hollyman	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
47	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
48	Jérémy Leveau	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
49	Lucas Boniface	TotalEnergies	0:30
50	Mathias Vanoverberghe	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
51	Sandy Dujardin	TotalEnergies	0:31
52	Célestin Guillon	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
53	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	0:32
54	Valentin Darbellay	Corratec-Vini Fantini	0:33
55	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
56	Mattéo Vercher	TotalEnergies	s.t.
57	Lukasz Owsian	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
58	Matthew Walls	Groupama-FDJ	0:34
59	Joris Delbove	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
60	Andrii Ponomar	Corratec-Vini Fantini	0:35
61	Andrey Remkhe	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
62	Hugo Scala Jr	Project Echelon Racing	0:37
63	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
64	Jens Vandenbogaerde	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
65	Alexandre Delettre	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	0:38
66	Alan Jousseaume	TotalEnergies	s.t.
67	Kévin Avoine	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
68	Nicolas Breuillard	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	0:39
69	Nathan Vandepitte	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
70	Giosue Epis	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
71	Cade Bickmore	Project Echelon Racing	0:40
72	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
73	Fabien Grellier	TotalEnergies	s.t.
74	Lucas Bénéteau	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
75	Richard Arnopol	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
76	Scott McGill	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
77	Kasper Saver	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	0:41
78	Ilkhan Dostiyev	Astana Qazaqstan Development	0:43
79	Rudolf Remkhi	Astana Qazaqstan Development	0:44
80	Etienne Van Empel	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
81	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
82	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
83	Edoardo Burani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.
84	Jonas Reibsch	Astana Qazaqstan Development	0:45
85	Noah Knecht	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
86	Robin Plamondon	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	0:46
87	Enzo Boulet	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
88	Alexis Guérin	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	s.t.
89	Luca De Meester	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
90	Sébastien Van Poppel	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
91	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
92	Samuel Boardman	Project Echelon Racing	0:47
93	Antoine Hue	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
94	Simone Zanini	Astana Qazaqstan Development	0:48
95	Antoine Debons	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
96	Alessandro Iacchi	Corratec-Vini Fantini	0:49
97	Jan Stöckli	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
98	Alexander Salby	Bingoal-WB	0:50
99	Jon Rye-Johnsen	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
100	Rudy Barbier	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	0:51
101	Nil Aguilera	Astana Qazaqstan Development	s.t.
102	Enzo Briand	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
103	Melvin Crommelinck	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
104	Tom Portsmouth	Bingoal-WB	0:52
105	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	0:53
106	Andrea Biancalani	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	0:54
107	Gabriel Fede	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	0:55
108	Matteo Amella	Corratec-Vini Fantini	s.t.
109	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
110	Alexandre Léonien	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	0:57
111	Pierre Barbier	Philippe Wagner-Bazin	1:01
112	Michael Vanni	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	1:02
113	Simone Impellizzeri	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	1:05
114	Nicola Rossi	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	1:08
115	Artus Jaladeau	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	1:09
116	Alex Raimondi	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli	s.t.

Prologue map & profile:

Prologue map

Prologue profile

Start list with back numbers, February 7, 2024:

	Decathlon Ag2R La Mondiale
1	Dorian Godon
2	Bruno Armirail
3	Nans Peters
4	Sam Bennett
5	Pierre Gautherat
6	Lawrence Warbasse
7	Damien Touzé
	Cofidis
11	Axel Zingle
12	Thomas Champion
13	Christophe Noppe
14	Oliver Knight
15	Alexis Gougeard
16	Harrison Wood
17	Ludovic Robeet
	Groupama-FDJ
21	Sven Erik Bystrøm
22	Rémy Rochas
23	Samuel Watson
24	Lorenzo Germani
25	Eddy Le Huitouze
26	Matthew Walls
27	Lars Van Den Berg
	Bingoal-WB
31	Marco Tizza
32	Davide Persico
33	Dimitri Peyskens
34	Nathan Vandepitte
35	Floris De Tier
36	Aaron Van Der Beken
37	Louka Matthys
	CIC U Nantes Atlantique
41	Artus Jaladeau
42	Enzo Boulet
43	Enzo Briand
44	Antoine Hue
45	Matisse Julien
46	Robin Plamondon
47	Jon Rye-Johnsen
	Arkea-B&B Hotels
51	Clément Champoussin
52	Ewen Costiou
53	David Dekker
54	Raúl García
55	Giosue Epis
56	Baptiste Gillet
57	Lukasz Owsian
	TotalEnergies
61	Sandy Dujardin
62	Valentin Ferron
63	Thomas Bonnet
64	Alan Jousseaume
65	Lucas Boniface
66	Fabien Grellier
67	Mattéo Vercher
	Van Rysel-Roubaix
71	Emmanuel Morin
72	Jérémy Leveau
74	Samuel Leroux
75	Célestin Guillon
76	Kenny Molly
77	Kévin Avoine
	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93
81	Romain Cardis
82	Joris Delbove
83	Alexandre Delettre
84	Jérémy Cabot
85	Morne Van Niekerk
86	Jérémy Lecroq
87	Dillon Corkery
	Nice Métropole-Côte D'Azur
91	Jonathan Couanon
92	Melvin Crommelinck
93	Damien Girard
94	Paul Hennequin
95	Jean-Louis Le Ny
96	Alexandre Léonien
97	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli
	Philippe Wagner-Bazin
101	Pierre Barbier
102	Rudy Barbier
103	Quentin Bezza
104	Alan Boileau
105	Thomas Devaux
106	Alexis Guérin
107	Gwen Leclainche
	Lidl-Trek
111	Mads Pedersen
112	Alex Kirsch
113	Julien Bernard
114	Tim Declercq
115	Ryan Gibbons
116	Otto Vergaerde
117	Jakob Söderqvist
	Israel-Premier Tech
121	Tom Van Asbroeck
122	Hugo Hofstetter
123	Riley Sheehan
124	Marco Frigo
125	Riley Pickrell
126	Nadav Raisberg
127	Mason Hollyman
	Corratec-Vini Fantini
131	Jan Stöckli
132	Antoine Debons
133	Kyrylo Tsarenko
134	Matteo Amella
135	Andrii Ponomar
136	Alessandro Iacchi
137	Etienne Van Empel
	Project Echelon Racing
141	Scott McGill
142	Richard Arnopol
143	Tyler Stites
144	Cade Bickmore
145	Hugo Scala Jr
146	Samuel Boardman
147	Brendan Rhim
	Astana Qazaqstan Development Team
152	Simone Zanini
153	Nil Aguilera
154	Jonas Reibsch
155	Andrey Remkhe
156	Rudolf Remkhi
157	Ilkhan Dostiyev
	Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli
161	Alex Raimondi
162	Andrea Biancalani
163	Gabriel Fede
164	Simone Impellizzeri
165	Nicola Rossi
166	Michael Vanni
167	Giacomo Tagliavini