Davide Ballerini wins an action packed stage 1 of the Tour de la Provence in a sprint finish.
Article: @_ZackMorris
Stage 1 of the Tour de La Provence was anything but a traditional rolling opening stage of a multi day race. Instead, we saw Deceunink-Quickstep go on the offensive launching 3 attacks on the category 3 Montee du Brulat, 75km from the line. As the peloton reached the summit of the climb, Ciccone from Trek-Segafredo launched and attack and was soon followed by Giani Moscon, and the world champion Julian Alaphilippe.
The escaping trio built their lead up to 1:20 at it’s peak, and fought relentlessly all the way to 2km to go, where they were captured by a hard chasing peloton. Alaphilippe didn’t wasn’t the opportunity of great positioning inside 2k’s to go as he jumped straight into the front of the race, and started the lead out for his sprinter, Davide Ballerini. Alaphilippe’s effort was truly specactular and the world champ continues to demonstrate the highest level of sportsmanship in the game.
For the sprint, it was Demare who opened it up from about 250 meters out, launching into the cross headwind. It looked like Demare would take the win as his initial kick created a 2-3 bike length gap between the himself and the next person in the bunch. Ballerini managed to squeak through a gap and land himself in the slipstream of Demare. Inside 50 meters to go Ballerini seamlessly rolled past Demare to take the stage win, in a super clean fashion.
