Riccitello seals Tour de la Provence as Laurance claims canny win on final stage

Laurance was part of a nine-man move that forged clear early in the stage and he showed considerable sangfroid in the finale, first by tracking Daniel Arnes (Van Rysel Roubaix) when he attacked with 6km to go and then by clipping away from the Norwegian by choosing the quickest line around a roundabout.

Maxime Jarnet (Van Rysel Roubaix) won the sprint for second at four seconds ahead of Lorrenzo Manzin (TotalEnergies), while Tobias Müller (Unibet Rose Rockets) led the peloton home at 15 seconds.

Riccitello started the day with a four-second lead on Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos) in the overall standings after his victory at Montagne de la Lure on Saturday. The peloton was well marshalled by his Decathlon team on the road to Arles on Sunday, and he sealed the overall title ahead of the Ineos duo of Rodríguez and Brandon Rivera.

Although the terrain lent itself to a bunch finish, the stage was animated by a spirited nine-man move featuring Laurance, Arnes, Jarnet, Manzin, Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Victor Loulergue (Groupama-FDJ United), Simon Carr (Cofidis), Jannis Peter (Unibet Rose Rockets) and Clément Davy (Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur).

The spread of teams represented in the break gave them more than a fighting chance of staying clear, not least because there was no threat to Riccitello’s overall lead in the move. Decathlon were content to ride tempo on the front, and it was only in the finale that teams including Polti-VisitMalta began to add impetus to the chase.

Out in front, Carr kickstarted the attacking among the escapees with 24km to go, and the front group would continue to break and reform on the run-in to the finish. With Polti leading the charge, the gap dropped to 40 seconds with 6km to go.

That was the all the motivation Arnes needed to go on the offensive and Laurance sagely tracked his move. The Frenchman’s power and poise would tell in the final kilometre and he claimed his first win in Ineos colours.