Stages 2 Winning time 9hr 14' 21" Second Philippe Gilbert (BEL) | Distance 364.7 km (226.6 mi) Winner Ben Gastauer (LUX) | |
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Dates February 21, 2015 (2015-02-21)–February 22, 2015 (2015-02-22) | ||
The 2015 Tour du Haut Var was the 47th edition of the Tour du Haut Var road cycling stage race. The race is held annually in February in the Provence region of France. It was rated as a 2.1 event as part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour. The race consisted of two stages over two days, from 21 to 22 February 2015.
Contents
Historically, the Tour du Haut Var has been the third of three early-season French races, following the Étoile de Bessèges and the Tour Méditerranéen, but for the second year running the Tour Méditerranéen was cancelled due to financial problems, so the Tour du Haut Var came after a two-week break in French cycling.
The 2015 race was particularly notable for returning to the difficult terrain that had been a feature of the race in its early years. In contrast to most stage races, it favours classics riders rather than pure climbers, and is seen as excellent preparation for the classics season.
The first stage of the race was won from the breakaway by Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale), who was able to defend his race lead in the second stage and take the overall victory in the race. These were the first victories of his professional career. The second stage was won by Luka Mezgec (Team Giant–Alpecin). Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team), who finished on the podium both days, won the points classification. The mountains prize was won by Ignatas Konovalovas (Team Marseille 13 KTM) and the best young rider was Quentin Pacher (Armée de Terre). The best team was Bretagne–Séché Environnement.
Teams
20 teams were selected to take place in the 2015 edition, including six UCI World Tour teams.
Preview
The 2014 champion was Carlos Betancur (Ag2r–La Mondiale), but he was not selected for the 2015 edition, still being far from the form he had had in the early part of 2014. However, three former champions were present, including Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team), Davide Rebellin (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice) and Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar). Gilbert was considered one of the major favourites for the race, while AG2R La Mondiale's Samuel Dumoulin and Bretagne–Séché Environnement's Jonathan Hivert were also expected to ride well.
The terrain of the race was expected to be more challenging than in other recent editions and both stages were expected to suit the puncheurs rather than the sprinters. The first stage ended took the riders across several categorised climbs. The penultimate climb was the difficult ascent of the Mur de Montauroux (the "Wall of Montauroux"), which has sections of 22% incline, before finishing with the steep climb to Seillans. The second stage took the riders across several more difficult climbs, including the Côte des Tuilières 20 km (12 mi) before the finish.
Stage 1
Stage 1 was a 164.6 km (102 mi) route from Le Cannet des Maures to Seillans. The route was generally hilly and generally used narrow roads. There were four climbs in the first part of the stage, before entering a difficult final section. This included the steep Mur de Montauroux with 15.5 km (10 mi) remaining, with the descent followed by a section of mild climbing and a steep incline to the finish.
The day's early break was formed by Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale), Ignatas Konovalovas (Marseille), Thomas Vaoubourzeix (Veranclassic), Roy Curvers (Team Giant–Alpecin) and Loic Chetout (Cofidis). They never built a lead of more than 4' 30", with several of the teams in the peloton chasing hard. Chetout dropped out of the break, but the remaining riders were able to maintain a decent advantage over the chasing pack. At the Mur de Montauroux, they still had two minutes' lead. Gastauer dropped the remaining riders on the climb and pressed on alone. He admitted after the stage that it had not been his intention to attempt to win the race from the breakaway, but he pushed on, estimating that the peloton behind would be tired. He still had several seconds in hand as he reached the final climb into Seillans and was able to hold the peloton off with a seven second advantage at the finish line, with Jonathan Hivert second and Philippe Gilbert third.
Gastauer therefore took over the overall lead of the race by seven seconds.
Stage 2
Stage 2 was a hilly route around Draguignan. The 194.7 km (121.0 mi) route involved several circuits around the town with six classified climbs. The last of these was the first-category Côte des Tuilières, which included sections of 22% and came 15 km (9 mi) before the finish.
The stage was raced briskly. After 50 km (31 mi) of racing, a nine-man breakaway went away, with AG2R La Mondiale leading the chase in defence of Gastauer's yellow jersey. The breakaway riders were Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Maxim Belkov (Team Katusha), Yannick Martinez (Team Europcar), Anthony Turgis (Cofidis), Nikolay Mihaylov (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice), Ignatas Konovalovas (Team Marseille 13 KTM), Julien Guay (Auber 93), Antoine Demoitié (Wallonie - Bruxelles) and Serge Dewortelaer (Veranclassic - Ekoï). Turgis attempted to drive the pace on the climb of Col de la Grange 70 km (43 mi) before the finish, but he was not able to distance the pelton. The last of the escapees to be caught was Le Bon, who rode solo into the final 20 km (12 mi) with a lead of over a minute. He was caught soon afterwards, as the peloton reached the Côte des Tuilières. On the climb, Davide Rebellin (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice), a former champion in the race, attacked along with Julien Loubet Team Marseille 13 KTM, but they were caught by AG2R La Mondiale shortly after the summit. Luka Mezgec (Team Giant–Alpecin) was among the riders to be dropped on the climb, but he was able to bridge across from the chase group into the peloton, now reduced to 30 riders. His teammate Chad Haga led him out in the sprint, and he was able to beat Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) to the line, with Baptiste Planckaert (Roubaix–Lille Métropole) in third place. Gastauer finished in the peloton and took the overall victory, the first stage race win of his professional career.