Aurélien Paret-Peintre scored Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s 10th victory of 2024 on the final stage of the Tour of the Alps, a short but challenging mountainous day around Levico Terme.
The Frenchman triumphed from a greatly reduced lead group to beat Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and his brother Valentin Paret-Peintre to the win in the uphill sprint finish.
Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) secured the overall race victory, his first career GC success, as no real threats to his comfortable lead materialised over the stage, which saw the riders tackle two ascents of Palù del Fersina.
The Spaniard won the race by 38 seconds from another Decathlon AG2R man, Ben O’Connor, while Tiberi rounded out the podium in third at 42 seconds.
A lead group of 15 came to the finish after 119km of racing over two first-category ascents of the Palù del Fersina (12.5km at 6.1%) with Bahrain Victorious leading it out on the uphill run in the final kilometre of the day.
It was Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) who launched the final dash to the line a long way out, with Aurélien Paret-Peintre biding his time on the wheel before striking out himself with a perfect sense of timing.
He burst clear to cross the line first unopposed, while further back Tiberi outpaced Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) for second place before Valentin Paret-Peintre burst past late on to beat his fellow Frenchman to grab third.
“It’s a perfect way to finish the week with the team,” Aurélien Paret-Peintre said after the stage. “I’m super happy with my win. In the last kilometre, I knew I was the fastest in the group so it’s a perfect way to end for us and also in the GC with Ben.
“We’ve been working at an altitude camp ahead of the Giro d’Italia. Our goal Is the Giro, so this week was to finish the preparation for that and now we go to the Giro with ambition.”
Overall winner López rounded out the five-stage race in ninth place, safe among the group. He was active late in the day, going on the attack along with Bardet, Tiberi and O’Connor over a small hill 7km from the line. However, the move was brought back in good time for the finish, setting up the closing sprint.
“This is my first victory,” López said after the finish. “It’s the [most] important one of my life, so I’m really happy. The team did a really amazing job from the beginning to the end.
“This victory is amazing for me. I think of a lot of people, including family, friends, my team, and Luca Guercilena the team manager because everybody knows that he’s not in a good situation, so this is also for him.”
How it unfolded
The final day of the 2024 Tour of the Alps would be another challenging one to conclude a week filled with hills and mountains. Two ascents of Palù del Fersina dominated the stage, peaking at 67km and 92km on the 119km stage, while several unclassified hills late on added to the difficulties.
Stage 1 winner Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) was among the early attackers during the flatter early part of the stage, though no move would stick until the riders were on the ascent of the Palù del Fersina, over halfway into the stage.
There, with just under half of the stage left to run, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) made a move, going off the front with Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), and young VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè talent Giulio Pellizzarri.
Behind the trio, Lidl-Trek kept a lid on things as Carthy protected the mountain classification lead of his teammate Simon Carr at the top. That move wouldn't make it to the finish, however, or even to the top of the second time up the Palù del Fersina.
Instead, it was Bahrain Victorious who were active there, sending Tiberi off up the road with 33km to go, a handful of kilometres after a move by Bardet had come to nothing. Tiberi's move was also brief as Lidl-Trek and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale chased down the third-placed man.
After the Italian was brought back, it was time for Poels to move, going clear 30km out as once again Lidl-Trek and Decathlon AG2R led the chase. Poels led the way over the top and built a lead of 25 seconds at one point, threatening to jump up into second overall.
However, with Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek) pulling on the front for López on the second and final descent of the Palù del Fersina, his advantage waned until he was caught with 16km left to run.
The late ascent of the unclassified Valico di Tenna (2km at 6%) saw López go off the front for a final time in the race along with Bardet, Tiberi, and O'Connor. They were brought back, however, as were further moves on the run towards the finish from Pellizzarri, Poels, and Aurélien Paret-Peintre.
With the group all back together for the final 2km, all that was left was to set up the closing sprint of the week, which Bahrain Victorious duly did in the final kilometre. It was Decathlon AG2R who took the profit, though, taking another victory to go with nine others from stages at the UAE Tour and Itzulia Basque Country to the most recent at Brabantse Pijl.
Results
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