Elia Viviani on thrilling win in Provence: "It was not an easy flat stage because of the wind"

The Italian sprinter has taken his first win since returning to INEOS Grenadiers and it came in style as the whole team put on a very big performance to make sure their new signing would make it to the line first.

On a post-race interview, Viviani had this to say: "It was not an easy flat stage because of the wind. We moved really well and we have some experienced guys from the Classics like Luke Rowe. When we saw we had four in front, and also Richie with us for the GC, we thought it’s good and we kept pushing all day. When we saw there weren’t any other sprinters in the front (group) of course we were happy about that. I felt a bit of pressure but the guys did an amazing job. Ganna closed the gap on Bodnar which was a dangerous attack in the last few km. Then Luke Rowe did a perfect lead-out for me. Thanks to the whole team for their great job today."

There were very tense moments, but only with 82 kilometers to go did a decisive split occur in the peloton due to strong crosswinds. They were expected, and also as expected the British team had heavy presence in the leading group, albeit missing Ethan Hayter. "We had some tactics for today. The first was attack in the wind, and then once we’d seen the finish line the guys wanted to know from me what I wanted for the proper lead-out. It’s what we talked about in the last 10km, how to approach the final few metres," Viviani followed up with.

On that decisive move Viviani had the company of Luke Rowe, Richard Carapaz and race leader Filippo Ganna. The latter two buried themselves in the final kilometers so as to bring back the attacks of Maciej Bodnar and Mads Wurtz. Inside the final kilometer Rowe leadout Viviani who took an uncontested sprint win, clearly being the fastest in the group:

"I finished the season really well last year and that’s important. For sure I’m really happy to be back with team INEOS Grenadiers. It’s really important for a sprinter winning at the start of the season. From Valenciana we knew I had a good condition and then coming here to Provence with a big goal to win the first race of the season," he concluded.