Dorian Godon wins final Tour des Alpes Maritimes stage as Christian Scaroni bravely defends himself from Santiago Buitrago to win GC
Cycling
Christian Scaroni has taken three wins in three days. Today he resisted the multiple attacks of Santiago Buitrago and went on to win the overall classification of the Tour des Alpes Maritimes. Stage 2 had a dramatic finale, and the victory came in form of a small group sprint with Dorian Godon taking the success.
The final of two race days in the French stage-race had a clear plot to follow: Could Christian Scaroni defend his race lead against the Bahrain - Victorious duo of Santiago Buitrago and Lenny Martínez? The stage was not as hard as the first one, but chaos could rule in a short and explosive day in the hills.
13 riders formed the day's breakaway, although there were lots of moves and the gaps were constantly small. Santiago Buitrago and Richard Carapaz at a certain moment were isolated themselves, but there was always a very active dynamic and an ever-constant race change. In an intermediate sprint, Scaroni would grab 2 seconds of bonifications, a key move. Later, Louis Barré and Harry Sweeny attacked and got a larger gap over the peloton as the race settled.
Astana and Decathlon did most of the work throughout the afternoon, and the breakaway was closed down with 5 kilometers to go. At that time Buitrago was already attacking Scaroni once again in the final climb, doing some damage but the Italian fiercely resisted each and every attack from the Colombian.
Near the summit of the climb Buitrago went again, a brutal attack and the two gained almost 15 seconds on the peloton. Buitrago's faith was sealed however, and the two did not collaborate perfectly. They were caught with around 300 meters to go, and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale perfectly led out Dorian Godon who sprinted to victory on the final day. Joseph Blackmore and Nicola Conci finished second and third.
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- You are completely wrongvappaxbipmv05-04-2025
- Tadej has a little more chance. It will be an exciting race and the most important thing is that no one gets hurt.
maria2024202405-04-2025 - Whatever happens tomorrow... it'll be a hell of a raceslappers6605-04-2025
- Exactly Tadej, the cancer of modern society. Full of good-for-nothing people who gain visibility and importance on social media mocking, humiliating (and worse things) to earn money. But it's the follower's fault, no followers, no "influencers".maria2024202405-04-2025
- Great commentCaralladas05-04-2025
- i’m such a sucker for those group-hug, happy ending moments between competitors, largely because it’s so WASN’T that way in my younger, stronger days. (on that note, i have this hope that somewhere down the road, maybe fifteen or twenty years, a middle aged wout and mathieu will go for a pleasure ride together in flanders, and reminisce about the days when they were the young, strong monsters that stalked the cobbles.)OCexile05-04-2025
- Just like Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Ronde van Vlaanderen was/is NOT on MAX. Get your facts straight.Ben04-04-2025
- You might bounce more for the same power, but not the same speed. Sending 20 kgs over a jump at 20 kph will fly just as far as 10 kgs at the same speed. Again, Galileo demonstrated this.acem8204-04-2025
- So, you're saying that doing a bunch of small hops on a bike is easier if you're heavier? Why do people buy lighter bikes, then? Why do they generally feel better and faster? An appeal to "rhythm" is not helpful either, as the right "rhythm" might be on the lighter or heavier side of things, and as it varies, it's likely a wash either way. Then we are left with the physics truth that it takes less power to lift lighter things than heavier things.acem8204-04-2025
- No, weight doesn't affect the ability to go into the wind at all. It's all CdA vs power at that point. For example, it's "obvious" that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter one. But, absent wind resistance, it's not true (Galileo demonstrated this). An appeal to "obviousness" doesn't matter when the physics is clear. And yes, you have to be able to hold everything else constant, or you can't determine anything! So, imagine a 300 watt rider at 80 kgs with a CdA of 2.0, then imagine that same rider at 70 kgs with a CdA of 2.0. (Assume ideal tire pressure for both, same bike.) Which one can ride over a bumpy road fastest? The lighter one, as he doesn't have to lift as much. That's also why when they test bikes on 5 star cobbled sectors, the MTB goes faster than even a cobble-build road bike. Even though rolling resistance is higher on a flat road, and the CdA is junk, it smooths out the cobbles, allowing the person to not lift as much as they otherwise would.acem8204-04-2025