Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has taken his
second stage win in as many days at Tour de la Provence; winning stage 2 in
France today in the race leader’s jersey.
He beat Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) on the slight
drag up to the finish in Manosque, expertly and subtly moving his compatriot across
the road as he attempted to pass Ballerini in the sprint.
The finale was marred by a number of crashes, with Julian
Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) crashing with
1.2km to go and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) falling in the sprint, having
earlier been on the attack.
However, despite the sketchy conditions Ballerini (26)
made no mistake and jumped off the Astana lead out to take a brilliant win and
retain his race lead ahead of tomorrow’s finish on Chalet Reynard-Mont Ventoux.
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Eddie Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) lost more time today as
he finished some 1:06 down in 62nd place and Nicolas Roche (Team DSM) was in
110th at 5:34, though neither is riding for GC.
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Roche is in the race to captain a young Team DSM selection, with British rider Mark Donovan expected to be given a chance tomorrow. Meanwhile, Dunbar’s team has Ivan Sosa and Egan Bernal well-placed after finishing 10th and 11th today while Gianni Moscon was 7th today.
Bernal is 14th overall and Sosa 16th overall; both 20 seconds down on the race leader and having only lost that time to Ballerini due to his two stage win bonuses, with Moscon in 5th overall at 19 seconds.
The Colombians will go into tomorrow’s stage looking to take the victory and the race lead, with Dunbar expected to be called up in their service meaning we should see the Irishman on the front tomorrow.
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