Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar has proven one of the strongest riders in the Tour de La Provence first uphill finish, taking 6th on the stage.
The Team Ineos rider was part of the sprint for 2nd place
on the day after Astana’s Russian road race champion Aleksandr Vlasov attacked
on the final climb and won the stage solo.
Vlasov came home 24 seconds ahead of what remained of the
bunch, with Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana).
Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Pro Cycling) was next in 4th
place followed by Andrea Bagiol (Deceuninck - Quick Step) and then Dunbar,
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic).
Just inside the final 1km Sam Oomen of Team Sunweb darted
to the front of the reduced peloton with Dunbar following him.
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That slight move saw the Irish rider very well placed at
the front of the group and looking poised for a good result up the climb into a
headwind.
At that point Russian champion was already riding away to
victory; the rest of the field perhaps underestimating him.
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In the charge to the line for 2nd place, an uphill slow
motion bunch sprint, a group of 10 riders all finished on the same time; some
24 seconds down on the winner.
However, there was a four second gap between 11th and 12th place, with Dunbar’s team mate Pavel Sivakov just on the wrong side of that split in 12th place.
And a little further back the group there were even bigger gaps meaning Dunbar gained time on most of his general classification rivals.
The Irishman is now sitting in 9th place and is among a group of eight all at 34 seconds when time bonuses are factored in.
While the stage winner went into the race with the
intention of supporting his team leader Lutsenko, Vlasov now holds the race
lead into tomorrow’s Mont Ventoux finish.
More to come.
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