Tour de la Provence 2020 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

February 16, 2020

Tour de la Provence 2020 – Stage 4 – Avignon – Aix-en-Provence : 170,5 km

The Tour de la Provence is an early-season bicycle stage race in the Provence region of France. It is organized by southern French newspaper La Provence, which serves as the race’s title sponsor for its first three years. It is held in February, as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour calendar.

Owain Doull (Team Ineos) won the breakaway sprint to secure the finale stage 4 of Tour de la Provence in Aix-en-Provence on Sunday. Matthias Brändle (Israel Start-Up Nation) was the first to start the four-man sprint but it only served as a sling-shot for Doull to come around and take the stage win. Ian Garrison (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was third and Romain Combaud (Nippo Delko One Provence) finished fourth.

In a thrilling finale, the breakaway arrived to the finish line just seconds ahead of a charging reduced peloton that included Tour de la Provence’s overall winner Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic).

The Colombian moved into the overall lead after winning the previous day’s stage on Mont Ventoux, and won the overall title ahead of Astana teammates Alexandr Vlasov at 1:04 down and Alexey Lutsenko at 1:28 down.

“I think around the 30km mark when we still had four minutes I thought we could have a really good chance,” said Doull after the finish. “When we stayed together on the climb I knew the run-in – it was really fast from last year.

“At around 2-3km to go I knew we’d stay away and then it starts to get a bit tactical and thinking of the sprint.

“This is my first professional win in Europe. It’s nice to get the team’s first win and a good time before the Classics.”

How it unfolded

The final stage of the race offered the peloton 170.5km from Avignon to Aix-en-Provence. The stage wasn’t straight forward and included three categorised climbs; Col de 3 Termes (31km), Col de l’Aire dei Masco (96.5km), La Cride (154km), followed by a smaller climb and descent into the finish.

After 50km of fast racing a breakaway finally cleared the peloton. The four-man move included Ian Garrison (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Mathias Brändle (Israel Start-Up Nation), Romain Combaud (Nippo Delko One Provence) and Owain Doull (Team Ineos).

They gained four minutes and that time gap held steady for the duration of the stage. Even by the time they approached the second of two intermediate sprints, with 30km to go, they still had 3:30 minutes.

Arkéa-Samsic’s overall leader Nairo Quintana relied on the superb work of his teammates to keep the race under control during the last half of the stage. Astana had riders in the second and third places in GC with Vlasov and Lutsenko, respectively, and helped in the pace-setting, as did EF Pro Cycling with Hugh Carthy in fourth overall.

EF Pro Cycling did much of the work into the final climb of La Cride (2.6km at 5.7 per cent) but the breakaway still had 1:45 with 17km to go.

It wasn’t until Astana took control at the front of the field that the gap to the break dropped quickly, down to 45 seconds over the top of the climb. A strong group of 30 riders – mainly climbers – emerged with the likes of Lutsenko, Vlasov and Carthy along with Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).

Quintana looked comfortable in the mix, allowing the stage to pan out, while he cruised down into Aix-en-Provence having all but sewn-up the overall victory – barring any mishaps along the way.

It was Sunweb, Jumbo-Visma and Cofidis that led the reduced group through the final 15km of mostly gradual, but fast, descending into Aix-en-Provence.

The breakaway of Garrison, Brändle, Combaud and Doull played no games of cat-and-mouse, but rather pushed on in the closing kiloemtres trying to scrap out as much time as they could ahead of the field.

The gap dropped to 19 seconds with under 3km to go, but their doubts about staying away disappeared when they hit the final kilometre with 10 seconds to spare.

Brändle was the first to start his sprint and Doull latched onto his rear wheel and then jumped around him to sprint across the line with the stage victory, just seconds ahead of the charging peloton.

Results :
1 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 4:07:32
2 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation
3 Ian Garrison (USA) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:02
4 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
5 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:06
6 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis
7 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
8 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) EF Pro Cycling
9 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep
10 Quinn Simmons (USA) Trek-Segafredo
11 Rasmus Tiller (Nor) NTT Pro Cycling
12 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
13 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team
14 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb
15 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
16 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
17 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana Pro Team
18 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
19 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Movistar Team
20 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos
21 Julien El Fares (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
22 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
23 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
24 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
25 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
26 Edward Dunbar (Irl) Team Ineos
27 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
28 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
29 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
30 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
31 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis
32 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team
33 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
34 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
35 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
36 Fausto Masnada (Ita) CCC Team
37 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
38 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
39 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
40 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep
41 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
42 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
43 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
44 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling
45 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
46 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:00:35
47 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:40
48 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
49 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence
50 Ivan Centrone (Lux) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
51 Alexis Renard (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
52 Mathias De Witte (Bel) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
53 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb
54 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
55 Frederik Backaert (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
56 Christopher Lawless (GBr) Team Ineos
57 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
58 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spa) Movistar Team
59 Julien Vermote (Bel) Cofidis
60 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
61 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Cofidis
62 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
63 Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
64 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
65 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Ineos
66 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
67 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team
68 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale
69 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
70 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Pro Cycling
71 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
72 Kinfe Hailemichael (Eth) Nippo Delko Provence
73 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
74 Attila Valter (Hun) CCC Team
75 Matteo Sobrero (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
76 Louis Louvet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
77 Vadim Pronskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
78 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie
79 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling
80 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
81 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) NTT Pro Cycling
82 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
83 Luis Guillermo Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
84 Chris Harper (Aus) Team Jumbo-Visma
85 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
86 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
87 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team
88 William Barta (USA) CCC Team
89 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation
90 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team
91 Thomas Degand (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:02
92 Pierre Idjouadiene (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
93 Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
94 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:06
95 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team 0:04:08
96 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ
97 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
98 Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis 0:04:23
99 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:05:15
100 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
101 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Pro Cycling
102 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
103 Jeremy Cabot (Fra) Total Direct Energie
104 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team Sunweb
105 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
106 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) NTT Pro Cycling
107 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling
108 Winner Andrew Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
109 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
110 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis 0:07:59
111 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:08:00
112 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:08:01
113 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:08:46
114 Charles Quarterman (GBr) Trek-Segafredo
115 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
116 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie
117 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Pro Cycling
118 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence
119 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
120 Luis Ricardo Villalobos Hernandez (Mex) EF Pro Cycling
121 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
122 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:10:35
123 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Team
124 Bert De Backer (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
125 Marlon Gaillard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
126 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Bram Welten (Ned) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Morné Van Niekerk (RSA) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Baptiste Constantin (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Bryan Alaphilippe (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Christophe Masson (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
DNF Florian Maitre (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Alexander Kamp (Den) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Movistar Team
DNF Norman Vahtra (Est) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNF Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNF Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
DNF Leonardo Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie

Final General Classification :
1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 15:31:50
2 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:01:04
3 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:28
4 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:38
5 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:02:16
6 Edward Dunbar (Irl) Team Ineos 0:02:21
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:22
8 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:26
9 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
10 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:35
11 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:02:44
12 Fausto Masnada (Ita) CCC Team 0:03:15
13 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:50
14 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:03:51
15 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:53
16 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:03:55
17 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:04:09
18 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:04:17
19 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:30
20 Julien El Fares (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:04:42
21 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos 0:04:44
22 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling 0:04:57
23 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:05:19
24 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:05:25
25 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:05:32
26 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Pro Cycling 0:05:36
27 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:05:38
28 Attila Valter (Hun) CCC Team 0:05:45
29 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:05:46
30 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis 0:05:54
31 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:06:18
32 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) NTT Pro Cycling 0:06:22
33 Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:06:58
34 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale 0:07:21
35 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:07:37
36 Chris Harper (Aus) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:07:40
37 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:08:00
38 Mathias De Witte (Bel) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:08:05
39 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie 0:10:24
40 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Movistar Team 0:10:43
41 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) NTT Pro Cycling 0:12:09
42 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos 0:12:25
43 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:45
44 Luis Guillermo Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team 0:13:23
45 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:13:29
46 Kinfe Hailemichael (Eth) Nippo Delko Provence 0:13:30
47 Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:13:45
48 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team 0:13:52
49 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:14:28
50 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) EF Pro Cycling 0:15:31
51 William Barta (USA) CCC Team 0:16:17
52 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb 0:16:19
53 Winner Andrew Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:16:39
54 Julien Vermote (Bel) Cofidis 0:17:09
55 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:17:21
56 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:17:36
57 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:18:15
58 Thomas Degand (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:18:31
59 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:18:41
60 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling
61 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Cofidis 0:18:48
62 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 0:18:55
63 Ian Garrison (USA) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:19:01
64 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:19:10
65 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:19:11
66 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
67 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:19:55
68 Matteo Sobrero (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:20:02
69 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis 0:20:32
70 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:20:43
71 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:20:45
72 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:21:34
73 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:21:38
74 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:22:03
75 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:22:39
76 Pierre Idjouadiene (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:22:46
77 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spa) Movistar Team 0:22:55
78 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:23:54
79 Louis Louvet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:23:58
80 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Pro Cycling 0:24:20
81 Alexis Renard (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:24:26
82 Ivan Centrone (Lux) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:24:31
83 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:24:34
84 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:25:43
85 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team
86 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:25:44
87 Quinn Simmons (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:25:46
88 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:25:47
89 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:26:07
90 Luis Ricardo Villalobos Hernandez (Mex) EF Pro Cycling 0:26:21
91 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:26:26
92 Frederik Backaert (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:27:04
93 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Ineos
94 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:27:12
95 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:27:35
96 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team 0:28:13
97 Rasmus Tiller (Nor) NTT Pro Cycling 0:28:18
98 Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis 0:29:03
99 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:29:21
100 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Pro Cycling 0:29:50
101 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:30:48
102 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:31:14
103 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team 0:31:27
104 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence 0:32:00
105 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence 0:32:01
106 Christopher Lawless (GBr) Team Ineos 0:32:02
107 Jeremy Cabot (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:32:18
108 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis 0:32:51
109 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:32:56
110 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Team 0:33:08
111 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:33:13
112 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ 0:33:17
113 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:33:37
114 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:33:46
115 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:34:08
116 Vadim Pronskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:37:32
117 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:38:00
118 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team 0:38:05
119 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:38:08
120 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:40:40
121 Marlon Gaillard (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:41:35
122 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:43:37
123 Bert De Backer (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:43:55
124 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:44:23
125 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:44:53
126 Charles Quarterman (GBr) Trek-Segafredo 0:51:20