Filippo Ganna may have impressed on every stage of Tour de la Provence but the Italian was disqualified after the final stage today as Nairo Quintana claimed victory.
On today’s stage 4, Ganna
(Ineos Grenadiers) put in another great effort to finish 12th, just 1:21 down
on Quintana. The Colombian had attacked on the final climb for a solo stage win
and overall victory.
Quintana (Arkéa Samsic) was initially joined on the
attack by Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) when he made his
move with 4km to go. At that stage the main field had already been whittled
down on the 13.4km climb of Montagne de
Lure to the finish line.
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Quintana soon pressed on
alone, leaving Alaphilippe, and won the stage solo. Though Ivan Sosa (Movistar)
mounted a chase, he couldn’t catch the lone leader and was caught by the
chasing group in the final 200 metres.
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Mattias Skjelmose
Jensen (Trek- Segafredo) sprinted in at the front of that group for 2nd
place, some 37 seconds behind Quintana, with Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) 3rd on the same time.
Ganna – who had already won the TT stage and was 3rd on
yesterday’s stage 3, sprinting uphill - finished just behind the last of the
chasing group today as it split in the final kilometre.
That was a very impressive ride on a summit finish by the
world TT champion, given his weight. It left him 7th in the final GC, some 59
seconds down on Quintana.
However, shortly after the stage it emerged Ganna had
been disqualified from the race for taking an illegal bike change.
With 70km to go he had team staff on the roadside and
switched, in a pre-planned change, to a lighter bike. However, riders are
supposed to change bikes or be serviced from following vehicles, and not in a
pre-planned way by team staff taking up position on the roadside ahead of the
race and so he was disqualified.
It was a disappointing end
to the race for Ineos Grenadiers, which also lost Richard Carapaz from its
line-up mid race due to contracting Covid-19.
