Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge 2020 [FULL RACE]

August 6, 2020

Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge 2020 – Vaison-la-Romaine – Mont Ventoux : 179 km

The Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge is a professional cycle road race first held in 2019, which takes place between Vaison-la-Romaine and Mont Ventoux. The event is classified by the UCI as category 1.1 in the UCI Europe Tour.

Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) took the biggest win of his career with victory at the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge after holding off a late chase from Richie Porte (Trek Segafredo). Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) finished third to complete the podium.

As expected the race came down to a frantic battle on the slopes of Mont Ventoux with several major attacks taking place before Vlasov made his move. The 24-year-old, who enjoying an incredible run of form attacked with 4.5km remaining and quickly caught and dropped Martin. The Astana rider’s acceleration sparked a reaction from both Richie Porte and Nairo Quintana but the Colombian could offer little in the way of assistance as the finish approached.

Porte was able to drop his companion and then repeat the trick when he caught Martin with just over 2km to go but the Australian was unable to pull back any time on Vlasov. The Astana climber provided necessary cover when his teammate Miguel Angel Lopez was dropped on the lower slopes of the climb and carried on his form from La Route d’Occitaine, where he finished third overall.

Pierre Latour, who had instigated the attacking when he soloed off the front with 10km to go finished fourth, just ahead of Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates). Quintana was forced to settle for eighth, while last year’s winner Jesus Herrada took ninth.

“It’s a very famous mountain, the mountain of champions so I’m very, very happy to win here,” Vlasov said at the finish.

“I’m happy with my performance and with the teamwork. We did a good job. I felt very good and I tried to attack. I’m very happy. Now I will go in Italy for the Classics. With my shape, I hope to get some good results in the Giro dell’Emilia or Il Lombardia, it’s a very nice race. And I want to do my best.”

How it unfolded

The action began with a group of eight riders including Carmelo Urbano Fontiveros (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Jose Gonçalves (Nippo Delko One Provence), Juan Felipe Osorio Arboleda (Burgos-BH), Alessandro Monaco (Bardiani-CSF), Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Marlon Gaillard (Total Direct Energie) and Robert Scott (Canyon dhb p/b Soreen) attacked in the early stages of the race. The event is only in its second season but drew an impressive start list with Astana, Trek-Segafredo and Cofidis all entering the race with high-quality line-ups.

At the summit of the first climb of Fontaube the leaders had 3:30 over the peloton but it wasn’t until the first climb to Chalet Reynard that the race began to truly break up. Bravo attacked from the break and dropped his companions as Astana and Trek-Segafredo set about controlling the chase.

The lone leader held only a minute’s advantage over the peloton as the final, long ascent approached and he was duly caught as the main field thinned down to less than 40 riders. Latour was the first heavyweight to attack with 10km to go and his acceleration was enough to see Lopez start to crack. The Frenchman was unable to build on a small advantage and it was Cofidis that moved to the front in order to set up Martin. His acceleration was vicious and split the remnants of the main field. The Cofidis leader quickly made contact with Latour, and although there was a valiant defence from the AG2R La Mondiale climber he was soon forced to ease his efforts as Martin pushed on with 6.4km to go.

Trek began to wind up the pace but their hard work only helped to set up Vlasov, who jumped away with 4.5km to go. He caught and dropped Martin in less than a kilometre and although Porte tried to reel in the Astana rider he gave himself too much to do in the closing stages.

Results :
1 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 4:56:39
2 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:18
3 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:59
4 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:01:29
5 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:38
6 Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:43
7 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:51
8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:01:57
9 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:02:15
10 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:32
11 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Cofidis
12 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:02:54
13 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:03:06
14 Cristian Rodriguez Martin (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:03:09
15 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:03:43
16 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 0:03:48
17 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:16
18 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:04:26
19 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:50
20 Jaime Castrillo Zapater (Spa) Kern Pharma 0:05:25
21 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:05:57
22 Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:06:00
23 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:03
24 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:06:06
25 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:06:08
26 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:06:53
27 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos-BH
28 Jhojan Orlando Garcia Sosa (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:55
29 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis 0:07:29
30 Joan Bou Company (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:07:42
31 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:08:20
32 Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos-BH
33 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:32
34 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:09:19
35 Barry Miller (USA) Cambodia Cycling Academy 0:09:53
36 Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:09:57
37 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:10:32
38 Simone Petilli (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert
39 Alexander Evans (Aus) Circus-Wanty Gobert
40 Daniel Alejandro Mendez Noreña (Col) Kern Pharma 0:11:35
41 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:12:04
42 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:12:56
43 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:13:05
44 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:13:18
45 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
46 Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:13:36
47 Antoine Berlin (Mon) Cambodia Cycling Academy 0:14:20
48 Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis 0:14:48
49 Callum Macleod (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen 0:16:06
50 Juan Felipe Osorio Arboleda (Col) Burgos-BH 0:16:27
51 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie 0:17:26
52 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Kern Pharma 0:18:08
53 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence 0:19:29
54 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team
55 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
56 Ibon Ruiz Sedano (Spa) Kern Pharma
57 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
58 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:20:01
59 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:22:18
60 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
61 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:22:21
62 Alessandro Monaco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 0:22:24
63 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:24:29
64 Kinfe Hailemichael (Eth) Nippo Delko Provence 0:25:00
65 Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:26:21
66 Marlon Gaillard (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:27:27
67 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence 0:29:58
68 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:30:29
69 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis 0:30:32
70 Isaac Canton Serrano (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:35:22
OTL Mark Christian (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen 0:36:26
OTL Maximilian Stedman (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
OTL Jacob Scott (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen 0:39:57
OTL Lewis Askey (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
DNF Anthony Jullien (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
DNF Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Hernando Bohorquez Sanchez (Col) Astana Pro Team
DNF Andres Camilo Ardila Ordoñez (Col) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Juan Fernando Calle Hurtado (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNF Jefferson Cepeda (Ecu) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNF Oier Lazkano Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNF Carmelo Urbano Fontiveros (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNF Jerome Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Valentin Ferron (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Ibai Azurmendi Sagastibeltza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Unai Cuadrado Ruiz de Gauna (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Marco Benfatto (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Umberto Orsini (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Manuel Senni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Thomas Degand (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Théo Delacroix (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
DNF Julien El Fares (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
DNF Atsushi Oka (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
DNF Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Justin Mottier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNF Jesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNF José Fernandes (Por) Burgos-BH
DNF Jon Agirre Egaña (Spa) Kern Pharma
DNF Jose Felix Parra Cuerda (Spa) Kern Pharma
DNF Ivan Moreno Sanchez (Spa) Kern Pharma
DNF Daniel Pearson (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
DNF Rory Townsend (Irl) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
DNF Robert Scott (GBr) Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
DNF Samy Aurignac (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNF Gabriel Muller (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNF Pascal Bousquet (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNF Florian Dumourier (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy