GC podium for Matej Mohoric in Provence

At the Tour de la Provence, Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS fielded a decidedly young team in support of its leaders Matej Mohoric and Fred Wright. In the end, these two finished the stage race in 2nd and 4th on GC, and the team finished each stage with one or more riders in the top 10. Next week, the team will be competing at the UAE Tour in the Near East, fielding a strong line-up that has quite some ambitions.

Contested in the backyard of the city of Marseille, the Tour de la Provence serves up chances for both sprinters and punchy climbers throughout its three stages. Matej Mohoric and Fred Wright headed into this race as the captains of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS. They could rely on the support of a decidedly young team: apart from Nicolo Buratti and Matevz Govekar, the line-up consisted of  Roman Ermakov, Oliver Stockwell and Alessandro Borgo, who usually rides for the feeder team and was brought in for this race. The opening stage was the toughest on paper, featuring plenty of climbs. But strong winds split the peloton into multiple groups, with Mohoric and Wright as the only riders of the team to make it into the first group on the road. In the end, a group of about 60 riders sprinted for the stage win, with Fred Wright crossing the finish line in 10th place.

The second stage looked easier on paper, but Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS did not show any interest in another sprint finish. Much rather, the team took the front positions of the peloton with 50 kilometres to go and upped the pace, doing more than its fair share to bring back the day's early breakaway. With 19 kilometres to go, Fred Wright attacked but could not get away decisively. As soon as the Englishman had been brought back, Matej Mohoric accelerated and managed to drop all but one competitor. Unfortunately, this one guy was Mads Pedersen, a very strong sprinter who proved to be much faster on the way to the line. Sixteen seconds after the day's winner, Fred Wright took hold of 3rd place by winning the sprint of the first group of chasers.

Thus, the two captains of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS were sitting in 2nd and 3rd on GC before the conclusive stage, but the time gaps were tiny. The last stage was primarily flat, but no breakaway was allowed to form before the first bonifications sprint. Only after that, six riders went up the road, and the last riders of this breakaway were brought back on the final kilometre. The team showed a strong finale and managed to drop off Matevz Govekar in a very promising position for the sprint, but then a speed bump provoked a crash at the sharp end of the race, and Govekar had no chance to stay upright. Alessandro Borgo, on the other hand, found a way past the chaos and crossed the finish line in 8th place. Sadly, Fred Wright was bumped off 3rd on GC ever so narrowly.

Next week the only top-tier stage race in the Near East is being ridden with the UAE Tour. Apart from an individual time trial and the two mountaintop finishes of Jebel Jais and Jebel Hafeet, the race features four chances for the sprinters. The selection of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS is appropriate for this race: Coming from a 3rd place on GC at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Pello Bilbao is the team's GC captain and aims for a podium result. Throughout the week, he can rely on the support of Torstein Traeen, Rainer Kepplinger and Max van der Meulen. Daniel Skerl and Andrea Pasqualon are set to lead out Phil Bauhaus, who will take aim at his first win of the season in one of the likely four sprint decisions.

RESULTS
9TH TOUR DE LA PROVENCE
STAGE 2: FORCALQUIER - MANOSQUE, 167.3KM
1. Mads Pedersen, DEN, in 3:53.53 hours
2. Matej Mohoric, SVN/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, + 0.04
3. Fred Wright, GBR/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, + 0.16

FINAL OVERALL STANDINGS:
1. Mads Pedersen, DEN, in 12:01.05 hours
2. Matej Mohoric, SVN/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, + 0.13
3. Marijn van den Berg, NED, + 0.23

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency