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2025 Le Tour de la Provence (2.1), France

February 14 - 16, 2025

Tour de la Provence podium history | 2024 edition | Start list
Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3

Overall map of the 2025 Tour of Provence.

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Sunday, February 16: Third & Final Stage, Rognac - Arles, 190.6 km

Stage 3 map & profile

Sam Bennett (left) just beats Marijn van de Berg for the stage win.

Les Woodland's book Sticky Buns Across America: Back-roads biking from sea to shining sea is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Arles at 2:30 PM, local time: 13C (55F), fair, with the wind from the north at 8 km/hr (5 mph). There is just a 1% chance of rain.

The race: Here's the report from GC winner Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek.

Mads Pedersen started the day with an advantage of 13 seconds on his closest GC rival – yesterday’s breakaway companion Matej Mohoric (TBV). In theory, Mads just needed to finish with the leaders, and ensure that Mohoric didn’t gain 13 bonus seconds at the intermediate and final sprints. Of course, when there’s a chance to win again, Mads will try to take it, and so Lidl-Trek geared up for a sprint in Arles.

It's about time to go racing in France. Getty photo

The plan was a late charge for the line – a different tactic to Mads’ famous long power sprints – but a good chance to dial the leadout train during the early season. Unfortunately, the sprint plan was derailed after a massive crash in the final meters. Whilst the chance to sprint was lost, most importantly the whole team stayed safe to cross the line. Mads was crowned the overall winner, now for the second time, and Lidl-Trek were recognized as the best team.

The riders arrive in Arles for the first loop of the stage 3 course. Next time it will be for the finish. The riders are passing by the Luma Arles building designed by Frank Gehry. Photo: Billy Lebelge

In Mads’ words:
“It was a good day, a fast day in the peloton, and a strong breakaway that went late in the race,” said Mads at the finish. “It was hard to catch them, but we managed it and ended in the sprint like we wanted to. We didn’t get the result, but we still win the GC so all is good.

“We were trying to do a leadout and it didn’t go 100% to plan. I think it was Ackermann who crashed, and when he went down of course you’re slamming the brakes, you don’t want to go down yourself, and that destroyed the sprint a bit for me. In the end I’m happy I didn’t crash and I still have the GC.

“I still have some work to do, I’m not in top shape yet, but there’s still two months until Roubaix.”

Complete results:

190.6 kilometers raced at an average speed of 48.671 km/hr

1	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	3hr 54min 59sec
2	Marijn van den Berg	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
3	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
4	Lukas Kubis	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
5	Paul Penhoët	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
6	Matyas Kopecky	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
7	Valentin Tabellion	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
8	Alessandro Borgo	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
9	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
10	Stanislaw Aniolkowski	Cofidis	s.t.
11	Corentin Devroute	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
12	Kenneth Van Rooy	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
13	Dillon Corkery	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
14	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
15	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
16	Sander De Pestel	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
17	Dylan Massa	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
18	Ryan Gibbons	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
19	Matej Mohoric	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
20	Clément Russo	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
21	Toms Skujins	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
22	Tomas Kopecky	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
23	Cériel Desal	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
24	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
25	Fred Wright	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
26	Jake Stewart	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
27	Olivier Le Gac	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
28	Mathis Le Berre	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
29	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
30	Valentin Ferron	Cofidis	s.t.
31	Owain Doull	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
32	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
33	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
34	Lucas Bénéteau	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
35	Henri-Francois Haquin	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
36	Sandy Dujardin	Team TotalEnergies	s.t.
37	Marco Tizza	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
38	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
39	Mathieu Burgaudeau	Team TotalEnergies	s.t.
40	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
41	Roman Ermakov	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
42	Alessandro Perracchione	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
43	Nicolò Buratti	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
44	Abram Stockman	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
45	Joren Bloem	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
46	Hartthijs de Vries	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
47	Colby Simmons	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
48	Cyril Barthe	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
49	Quentin Bezza	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
50	Morne Van Niekerk	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
51	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
52	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
53	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
54	Edoardo Zamperini	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
55	Andrea Peron	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
56	Damien Touzé	Cofidis	s.t.
57	Dries De Bondt	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	@ 39sec
58	Similien Hamon	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
59	Samuel Leroux	Team TotalEnergies	0:48
60	Daniel Årnes	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
61	Killian Théot	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
62	Carter Guichard	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
63	Lucas Boniface	Team TotalEnergies	s.t.
64	Mattéo Vercher	Team TotalEnergies	s.t.
65	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
66	David Lozano	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
67	Anton Muller	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
68	Antoine Hue	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
69	Lenaic Langella	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
70	Damien Girard	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
71	Baptiste Vadic	Team TotalEnergies	s.t.
72	Umberto Poli	Team Novo Nordisk	0:58
73	Alan Riou	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
74	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ	0:59
75	Maximilien Juillard	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
76	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	1:06
77	Oscar Nilsson-Julien	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
78	Darren Rafferty	EF Education-EasyPost	1:08
79	Alexis Renard	Cofidis	@ 0sec
80	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	1:44
81	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
82	Victor Guernalec	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
83	Bauke Mollema	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
84	Simon Guglielmi	Arkea-B&B Hotels	1:46
85	Martijn Budding	Unibet Tietema Rockets	1:48
86	Aimé De Gendt	Cofidis	1:49
87	Yaël Joalland	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	1:49
88	Jelle Johannink	Unibet Tietema Rockets	1:51
89	Thibaud Gruel	Groupama-FDJ	@ 0sec
90	Matevz Govekar	Bahrain Victorious	@ 0sec
91	Ludovic Robeet	Cofidis	@ 0sec
92	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	@ 0sec
93	Matis Louvel	Israel-Premier Tech	@ 0sec
94	Riley Pickrell	Israel-Premier Tech	3:07
95	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	@ 0sec
96	Michael Schwarzmann	Israel-Premier Tech	4:41
97	Lucas Daugé	Team Novo Nordisk	5:45
98	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	6:36
99	Samuele Battistella	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
100	Matisse Julien	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
101	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
102	Gavin Hlady	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
103	Pascal Ackermann	Israel-Premier Tech	@ 0sec

 

Final GC after stage 3:

• GC winner: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Mountains classification winner: Damien Girard (Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur)
• Points classification winner: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Best young rider: Raúl García (Arkea-B&B Hotels)
• Teams classification winner: Lidl-Trek

527.2 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.866 km/hr

1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	12hr 1min 6sec
2	Matej Mohoric	Bahrain Victorious	@ 13sec
3	Marijn van den Berg	EF Education-EasyPost	0:23
4	Fred Wright	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
5	Lukas Kubis	Unibet Tietema Rockets	0:25
6	Raúl García	Arkea-B&B Hotels	0:26
7	Jake Stewart	Israel-Premier Tech	0:28
8	Sander De Pestel	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
9	Thibaud Gruel	Groupama-FDJ	0:30
10	Dorian Godon	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	0:31
11	Valentin Ferron	Cofidis	s.t.
12	Marco Tizza	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
13	Alex Kirsch	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
14	Lucas Bénéteau	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
15	Toms Skujins	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
16	Hartthijs de Vries	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
17	Damien Touzé	Cofidis	s.t.
18	Ewen Costiou	Arkea-B&B Hotels	0:39
19	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	1:14
20	Sam Bennett	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:20
21	Mathieu Burgaudeau	Team TotalEnergies	1:32
22	Alexis Renard	Cofidis	1:36
23	Matis Louvel	Israel-Premier Tech	1:37
24	Owain Doull	EF Education-EasyPost	1:39
25	Clément Russo	Groupama-FDJ	1:40
26	Ryan Gibbons	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
27	Tomas Kopecky	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
28	Olivier Le Gac	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
29	Colby Simmons	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
30	Joren Bloem	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
31	Kenny Molly	Van Rysel-Roubaix	s.t.
32	Daniel Årnes	Van Rysel-Roubaix	2:37
33	Samuel Leroux	Team TotalEnergies	2:59
34	Bauke Mollema	Lidl-Trek	3:55
35	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	4:01
36	Lenaic Langella	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	4:13
37	Baptiste Vadic	Team TotalEnergies	7:11
38	Edoardo Zamperini	Arkea-B&B Hotels	7:18
39	Mattéo Vercher	Team TotalEnergies	7:42
40	Darren Rafferty	EF Education-EasyPost	8:26
41	Simon Guglielmi	Arkea-B&B Hotels	10:15
42	Pierre Gautherat	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	11:31
43	Paul Penhoët	Groupama-FDJ	12:06
44	Matyas Kopecky	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
45	Damien Girard	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
46	Nicolò Buratti	Bahrain Victorious	12:17
47	Henri-Francois Haquin	Wagner Bazin WB	13:12
48	Valentin Tabellion	Van Rysel-Roubaix	13:15
49	Cyril Barthe	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
50	Morne Van Niekerk	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
51	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
52	Dillon Corkery	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	13:22
53	Pascal Ackermann	Israel-Premier Tech	13:29
54	Sandy Dujardin	Team TotalEnergies	13:48
55	Maximilien Juillard	Van Rysel-Roubaix	13:53
56	Yaël Joalland	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	13:55
57	Aimé De Gendt	Cofidis	14:39
58	Dries De Bondt	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	14:42
59	Jelle Johannink	Unibet Tietema Rockets	15:06
60	Riley Pickrell	Israel-Premier Tech	16:22
61	Victor Guernalec	Arkea-B&B Hotels	17:38
62	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	18:15
63	Tom Van Asbroeck	Israel-Premier Tech	18:26
64	Cériel Desal	Wagner Bazin WB	18:53
65	Alessandro Borgo	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
66	Mathis Le Berre	Arkea-B&B Hotels	s.t.
67	Abram Stockman	Unibet Tietema Rockets	s.t.
68	Alessandro Perracchione	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
69	Emmanuel Morin	Van Rysel-Roubaix	20:04
70	Killian Théot	Van Rysel-Roubaix	20:09
71	Oliver Stockwell	Bahrain Victorious	22:30
72	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	22:49
73	Kenneth Van Rooy	Wagner Bazin WB	23:06
74	Roman Ermakov	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
75	Matevz Govekar	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
76	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	23:45
77	Similien Hamon	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
78	Carter Guichard	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	23:59
79	David Lozano	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
80	Antoine Hue	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
81	Quentin Bezza	Wagner Bazin WB	24:04
82	Titouan Fontaine	Groupama-FDJ	24:05
83	Samuele Battistella	EF Education-EasyPost	24:07
84	Oscar Nilsson-Julien	Groupama-FDJ	24:12
85	Tim Declercq	Lidl-Trek	24:50
86	Martijn Budding	Unibet Tietema Rockets	24:54
87	Alexander Konijn	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	27:56
88	Stanislaw Aniolkowski	Cofidis	28:00
89	Dylan Massa	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	28:17
90	Corentin Devroute	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
91	Andrea Peron	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
92	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
93	Ludovic Robeet	Cofidis	s.t.
94	Tord Gudmestad	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	28:51
95	Anton Muller	Team Novo Nordisk	28:53
96	Lucas Boniface	Team TotalEnergies	29:10
97	Umberto Poli	Team Novo Nordisk	29:15
98	Alan Riou	St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93	s.t.
99	Gavin Hlady	EF Education-EasyPost	29:42
100	Matisse Julien	CIC-U-Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
101	Michael Schwarzmann	Israel-Premier Tech	32:58
102	Lucas Daugé	Team Novo Nordisk	34:02
103	Oscar Chamberlain	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	35:27

 

Stage 3 map & profile:

Stage 3 map

Stage 3 profile

Saturday, February 15: Stage 2, Forcalquier - Manosque, 167.3 km

Stage 2 map & profile

Mads Pedersen wins stage two. Photo: Billy Lebelge

Les Woodland's book Tour of Flanders: The Inside Story - The rocky roads of the Ronde van Vlaanderen is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Manosque at 2:20 PM, local time: 12C (54F), sunny, with the wind from the west-southwest at 11 km/hr (7 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the race report from stage winner Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek.

After sickness last week in Bessèges and missing out on victory yesterday, Mads Pedersen was eager to open his 2025 account. Having won the same stage last year, Mads started the day as favourite. Whilst the pre-race plan was for Mads to sprint to win the stage, races rarely unfold like a PlayStation game, and instead Mads followed his instinct to attack from range.

On his first foray he found himself with unwilling companions, but after returning to the chase group to reshuffle his hand, Mads emerged in front with Matej Mohoric (TBV), and the duo combined well to reach the finish together. The Danish Dynamite led out the sprint, dropping Mohoric from the wheel and putting four seconds of daylight between themselves, with the peloton 16 seconds behind. Thanks to the significant time gaps, Mads also takes the GC lead, 13 seconds ahead, with one stage remaining.

Early in the stage the peloton is strung out. Photo: Billy Lebelge

In Mads’ words:
“We wanted to make it hard on the climb. Arkea started in the bottom and after a few km we decided to speed up and go with everything we had. 3km to the top, Bauke was done and I saw the moment to go. Sometimes it would work out to be 3 or 4 guys going and we could have made it to the finish line. But, the two guys I had with me didn’t want to work with me and that’s how it is. I got the bonus seconds and then we went back to the group to mix it up again because I was still in a good situation with Toms coming in the second group, and we had three more guys in the group behind that. No matter what, we would be in a good situation, so I thought let’s go back and mix it up again. I knew straight away with Mohoric and Fred Wright there that they would attack in turns, but luckily me and Toms were there to cover both. An ideal situation for us.

“Matej said a few km out that he was cooked, but you never know, you’re never sure before you pass the finish line. The last 40km was not easy for either of us. We had to gamble a bit ourselves and they were coming fast from behind because the helpers can do pulls then stop, and you see it in the last km they came really fast.

“Winning is winning, and when you win you get more confidence. It’s a good sign that your shape is good and you’re ready for the upcoming challenges. It’s a confidence boost not only for me but for the whole team. They started already in Valencia with Jonny and that group winning, so now we try and carry it on and give this boost back to the whole team.”

Complete results:

167.3 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.919 km/hr

GC after stage 2:

• GC leader: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Mountains classification leader: Damien Girard (Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur)
• Points classification leader: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
• Best young rider: Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels)
• Teams classification leader: Lidl-Trek

336.6 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 41.546 km/hr

Stage 2 map & profile:

Stage 2 map

Stage 2 profile

Friday, February 14: Stage 1, Marseille - Saint Victoret, 169.3 km

Stage 1 map & profile

Sam Bennett takes the first stage. Photo: Getty Sport

Bill McGann’s book Why Your Bike Is Made in Asia: My career in bicycles as I watched two continents squander an industry is available in print, Kindle eBook & Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the finish city of Saint Victoret at 3:00 PM, local time: 10C (50F), sunny, with the wind from the northwest at 56 km/hr (35 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the report from fourth-place Clément Russo's Team Groupama-FDJ:

The opening stage of the Tour de la Provence proved quite dynamic this Friday from Marseille to Saint-Victoret. The race opened up early on with the various climbs, and the peloton split into two parts. Together with Olivier Le Gac and Thibaud Gruel, Clément Russo managed to stay in the front and then got involved in the final sprint where he took fourth place, a few centimetres from the podium. Thibaud Gruel collected a bonus second earlier which allows him to sit in seventh place overall after this first stage.

Stage one gets rolling under blue skies. Photo: Billy Lebelge

Although the first stage of the Tour de la Provence did not include any major climbs, it was nevertheless quite a hard one on the table, up and down all day, with nearly 2,600 metres of elevation gain over just 169 kilometers. There was also a real doubt about a possible bunch sprint in Saint-Victoret since the two main climbs featured in the first part of the route. This doubt didn’t last long, because after having let a four-man breakaway establish itself, the peloton really accelerated, and exploded, in the Col de l’Espigoulier after just forty kilometers.

50 km into the stage with Lidl-Trek & EF Pro Cycling at the front. Photo: Billy Lebelge

“The start of the stage was actually quite hilly,” recalled Yvon Caër. “It went very fast and we lost Paul who didn’t have good legs. At 100%, he would certainly have come over that climb. There was a bit of panic. We still had Thibaud, Olivier and Clément in the main group, but we couldn’t let the twenty guys who had gone in front slip away. So we pulled in the first peloton, and also in the second one for Paul. On the other hand, we were never in a position to wait for Paul at 100%. We thought about it, but that would have been a mistake.”

“This start to the race is not really what we had planned,” added Clément Russo. “The first goal was to come back to the front, then wait for Paul to come back in the hope that things would settle down a bit. Unfortunately, we quickly understood that it wasn’t going to happen.”

A first peloton of around forty riders slowly increased the gap on the second one, and it became clear from mid-race that they wouldn’t come back. “So we adapted the strategy, and we switched to Thibaud for the GC and me for the sprint,” explained Clément. Yet, it was necessary to overcome another few climbs to reach Saint-Victoret. Lidl-Trek and EF Education-EasyPost tried to control the various attacks, and the peloton competed for the second intermediate sprint with nineteen kilometres to go. Thibaud Gruel took an interesting bonus second there, then the pack led the chase behind Samuel Leroux in the final. It all came back together at the last moment and a small bunch sprint took place.

“Olivier put me back in position before on a technical descent, then Thibaud helped me as well as we approached the last kilometre,” said Clément. “I came in a good position, in the slipstream, with a lot of speed, and I didn’t miss much to get a big result.” Thanks to a nice comeback in the final straight, the Frenchman claimed fourth place. “It was a rather unusual sprint, and if the door had opened in front of him, he would have been close to victory,” said Yvon. “It’s nice that Clément, who always works for others, can show himself when he has his chance. It’s important mentally, and his great technical vision of the sprint might pay off one day”.

Thibaud Gruel also made it into the top 10 of the day, in eighth position, and sits in seventh place overall thanks to the bonus second collected along the way. “He’ll give his all tomorrow to make sure he’s up there at the top of the climb located thirty kilometres from the finish,” added Yvon. “The teams that don’t have a sprinter will make it hard, and it will be a tough one. Then, the slight uphill finish suits him well if Paul is not there.”

Complete results:

169.3 kilometers raced at an average speed of 40.230 km/hr

GC after stage 1:

• GC leader: Sam Bennett (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale)
• Mountains classification leader: Maximilien Juillard (Van Rysell-Roubaix)
• Points classification leader: Sam Bennett (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale)
• Best young rider: Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels)
• Teams classification leader: Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale

Stage 1 map & profile:

Stage 1 map

Stage 1 profile

Start list with back numbers, February 13, 2025: