Sometimes - and fortunately - a long-range breakaway succeeds, either due to the skill of its protagonists or the peloton's miscalculation. This is exactly what happened today in the first stage of the 10th Tour de la Provence, the Marseille - Saint-Victoret 163 km route. The Swiss rider Arnaud Tendon and the Trentino cyclist Mattia Bais animated the five-rider breakaway, persisted until the end, and contested the victory in a sprint while the peloton was charging hard.

The twenty-three-year-old Tendon conquered the victory in the rain, beating Bais, with American Luke Lamperti taking third place and Lorenzo Germani (Groupama FDJ United) finishing sixth.

THE RACE. The first attack was launched by Swiss rider Arnaud Tendon (Van Rysel Roubaix), Australian Bailey McDonald (Novo Nordisk), Canadian Jonas Walton (CIC Pro Cycling), and Italians Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta) and David Zanutta (XdS Astana Development).

At 58 kilometers from the finish, McDonald and Zanutta lost the wheels of their breakaway companions, while the Ineos Grenadiers and EF Education Easypost were primarily driving the peloton's pursuit.

A significant risk occurred 33 km from the finish when, on an uphill section, the three breakaway riders had to avoid a car descending in the opposite direction of the riders' route in a left-hand curve.

At -12 km, Walton dropped off, while Bais and Tendon resisted until they contested the victory.

FINISH ORDER

1. Tendon Arnaud (Van Rysel-Roubaix) in 04:01:53
2. Bais Mattia (Team Polti VisitMalta)
2. Lamperti Luke (EF Education-EasyPost) + 02
4. Turgis Anthony (Team TotalEnergies)
5. Page Hugo (Cofidis)
6. Germani Lorenzo (Groupama-FDJ United)
7. Pedersen Rasmus Søjberg (Decathlon CMA CGM Team)
8. Agnoletto Blake (Groupama-FDJ United)
9. Loulergue Victor (Groupama-FDJ United)
10. Konijn Alexander (Nice Métropole Côte)