Tour de la Provence - Sam Bennett takes victory on stage 1 as Mads Pedersen and Lidl-Trek lose gold opportunity
Cycling
Sam Bennett has struggled in recent years to get the wins he had hoped for, but he has had the perfect day today at the Tour de la Provence. In a day full of dangerous attacks, the race ended in a small bunch sprint and the Irishman won for the first time in 2025.
Perhaps the queen stage of the race? The opening day of the French race had lots of climbing in it's first half and it was ideal for a chaotic race. In a way we did have that, but Lidl-Trek didn't want to allow large groups to go up the road and participate in the offensive racing; but instead look after Mads Pedersen and his chances of taking the win.
Early in the day the pace was very hard and the peloton split to a group of 19 including five riders of the American team. However the split was undone, Lidl-Trek and EF Education-EasyPost took control of the peloton although riders like Matej Mohoric and Mathieu Burgaudeau gave it a shot.
With 18 kilometers to go Samuel Leroux of TotalEnergies launched an attack and grabbed over half a minute over the peloton. The Frenchman went over the day's climbs with 30 seconds still over the peloton.
It almost looked like it would be heartbreak for the peloton on valentine's day, but Leroux' heroic effort ended inside the final kilometer already. Lidl-Trek launched the sprint from Lidl's leadout at the same time as a few other riders, but Sam Bennett came from behind and had the speed to take a very important stage win for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale - although he may not have even been aware, with no celebration. Lukas Kubis and Alexis Renard finished second and third as the main favourites fell further behind.
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| 1 | Bennett Sam | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 05:12:55 |
| 2 | Kubis Lukas | Unibet Tietema Rockets | + 00 |
| 3 | Renard Alexis | Cofidis | + 00 |
| 4 | Russo Clément | Groupama-FDJ | + 00 |
| 5 | Pedersen Mads | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
| 6 | van den Berg Marijn | EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 |
| 7 | Stewart Jake | Israel-Premier Tech | + 00 |
| 8 | Gruel Thibaud | Groupama-FDJ | + 00 |
| 9 | Burgaudeau Mathieu | Team TotalEnergies | + 00 |
| 10 | Wright Fred | Bahrain Victorious | + 00 |
| 11 | Gautherat Pierre | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
| 12 | García Raúl | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 00 |
| 13 | Godon Dorian | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
| 14 | Mohoric Matej | Bahrain Victorious | + 00 |
| 15 | Tizza Marco | Wagner Bazin WB | + 00 |
| 16 | Vadic Baptiste | Team TotalEnergies | + 00 |
| 17 | Guglielmi Simon | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 00 |
| 18 | Gibbons Ryan | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
| 19 | Bloem Joren | Unibet Tietema Rockets | + 00 |
| 20 | Kopecky Tomas | Unibet Tietema Rockets | + 00 |
| 21 | Simmons Colby | EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 |
| 22 | Bénéteau Lucas | St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 | + 00 |
| 23 | Costiou Ewen | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 00 |
| 24 | Årnes Daniel | Van Rysel-Roubaix | + 00 |
| 25 | de Vries Hartthijs | Unibet Tietema Rockets | + 00 |
| 26 | Cepeda Alexander | EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 |
| 27 | Zamperini Edoardo | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 00 |
| 28 | Le Gac Olivier | Groupama-FDJ | + 00 |
| 29 | Kirsch Alex | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
| 30 | Touzé Damien | Cofidis | + 00 |
| 31 | Louvel Matis | Israel-Premier Tech | + 00 |
| 32 | De Pestel Sander | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
| 33 | Skujins Toms | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
| 34 | Leroux Samuel | Team TotalEnergies | + 00 |
| 35 | Doull Owain | EF Education-EasyPost | + 10 |
| 36 | Molly Kenny | Van Rysel-Roubaix | + 31 |
| 37 | Girard Damien | Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur | + 39 |
| 38 | Mollema Bauke | Lidl-Trek | + 01:40 |
| 39 | Bernard Julien | Lidl-Trek | + 01:40 |
| 40 | Langella Lenaic | CIC U Nantes | + 01:40 |
| 41 | Grellier Fabien | Team TotalEnergies | + 01:40 |
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