Polanc is the king of the climbers in France

In the third and final stage of the Tour de la Provence, good performance from the UAE Team Emirates, which conquered the classification of the best climbers thanks to Polanc.

Fierce battle from the first to the last meter of the Aix en Provence-Marseille of 168,2 km and the riders of the Emirati team were always in the front positions.

The first cyclist from UAE Team Emirates to attack was Polanc (who led the race for 80 km with Merignat and Rostollan and then he went on as solo leader for 60 additional km), then it was Laengen’s turn and then Niemiec’s one.
In the final part of the stage, Mohoric went clear from the peloton with Bookwalter and Gavazzi chasing the leader Cattaneo, who exploited the frantic situation of the fight of the favourites for the general classification for obtaining the victory.

The main riders battling for the GC performed a series of attacks on the winding uprising roads and the situation became chaotic when some crashed occurred, involving also Petilli (who hit the deck, without consequences) and Conti (he was hit by another rider).

Mohoric didn’t succeed to be in the front position, so his aims for the general classification vanished: he reached the arrival in 24th place at 17″ to Cattaneo and in the final general standing he’s 16th at 15″ to the winner Dennis.

Thanks to today breakaway, Polanc (photo Bettini) became the king of the climber of the French race.

“Today the race results and the final general classification did not denote the efforts and the good performances by our riders – sports director Maini commented – However, we were in France with the goals of trying to be always protagonists with a fighting attitude, to give value to our young guns and to improve the shape in view of the next appointments: we achieved all these goals.

After the first two stages, Mohoric focused his attention on the general classification podium, however today we missed this target, but Polanc realized an impressive performance and he succeeded in winning the mountains classification“.

STAGE RESULTS
1- Cattaneo 4h05’17”
2- Dennis 2″
3- Hivert s.t.
4- Geniez 6″
5- El Fares 9″
20- Laengen 17″, 24- Mohoric s.t., 30- Niemiec 28″, 34- Conti 43″, 44- Petilli 1’24”, 50- Bono 2’24”, 75- Polanc 2’54”, 85- Troia 4’05”

FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1- Dennis 13h55’14”
2- Cattaneo 2″
3- Geniez 4″
4- Hivert s.t.
5- Edet 9″
16- Mohoric 15″
21- Laengen 19″, 29- Niemiec 30″, 40- Petilli 1’26”, 43- Conti 2′, 56- Polanc 2’56”, 59- Bono 3’23”, 63- Troia 4’07”