Results Tour de la Provence 2026 | Axel Laurance avenges INEOS on final day with breakaway victory
Cycling
Stage 3 of the Tour de la Provence was once again a successful day for the early attackers, as the second breakaway in three days proved to be victorious. Out of them, Axel Laurance rode to victory for INEOS Grenadiers - a victory that was very much necessary after the defeat in the previous day's queen stage.
Whilst the first stage, on paper for a sprint, finished with a breakaway; the second day of the race was for the overall classification contenders. The final day of the race, between Rognac and Arles, was going to be on paper for the sprinters but the start of the stage was very fast and a very strong breakaway was formed in the 205-kilometer long stage.
Sam Oomen, Clément Davy, Daniel Arnes, Maxime Jarnet, Lorrenzo Manzin, Simon Carr, Axel Laurance, Victor Loulergue and Jannis Peter were in the front group, without many teams left in the peloton to chase as both EF, INEOS and TotalEnergies - the teams of the three main favourites - had men in front.
The nine-rider group maintained its gap of 1 minute into the final kilometers as there lacked the firepower to chase and the move didn't prove to be overly dangerous for race leader Matthew Riccitello. With 6 kilometers to go Axel Laurance and Daniel Arnes went off the front, with the chasing group then missing the ideal collaboration to shut down the move.
This was the decisive move, but within the duo there was a clear difference in legs. In the final kilometer Laurance accelerated again and used his classics specialist abilities to hold off the chasing group in the slight uphill finish.
Laurance won with 4 seconds over Maxime Jarnet and Lorrenzo Manzin. Behind, the peloton arrived shortly after and Matthew Riccitello confirmed the overall victory for Decathlon CMA CGM Team.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
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