Results Tour de la Provence 2026 | Van Rysel Roubaix takes mouth-opening win as Arnaud Tendon wins from breakaway thriller

French team Van Rysel Roubaix have been very active in the first races of the French calendar, but today they have struck gold. In 2025 they did not take a single win, and at the Tour de la Provence this Friday they have soared to victory with Arnaud Tendon, who won the stage after a breakaway that just barely managed to hold off the peloton.

The opening stage of the race began in Marseille, with some small climbs to tackle right from the get go. 163 kilometers to be tackled and the day's breakaway was formed by five riders: Arnaud Tendon, Jonas Walton, Mattia Bais, Bailey McDonald and David Zanutta. INEOS Grenadiers and Lidl-Trek did the biggest share of the work behind, and a breakaway that didn't initially look too threatening then began causing sweat in the peloton.

The rainy weather made the chase hard, and with some descents in the route, it wasn't possible to organize a perfect chase. With 18 kilometers to go Tendon and Bais continued to push an incredibly high pace in the front and the other three riders, at separate points, were not able to maintain themselves in the head of the race. Under torrential rain, the duo entered the final kilometer still in the head of the race with the peloton on their heels.

Only 2 seconds were left, but it was enough. Arnaud Tendon was the rider who had the best legs out of the two that survived out front, and took an emotional stage win. Bais was second, whilst behind Luke Lamperti sprinted to third place.