Coquard sprints to victory in Stage 2 of Tour de la Provence

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) finished off a great team display to win Stage 2 of the Tour de la Provence, beating out Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep Alpha-Vinyl) and race leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) on the uphill finish in Manosque.

The win marks Coquard's second win of the new season after triumphing in a stage of the Etoile de Bessèges and came from a 2km prolonged sprint to the line after a hilly stage which reduced the peloton to 50 riders heading into the finale.

Despite missing out on the stage win, Ganna remains atop the general classification, just 2 seconds ahead of Alaphilippe and 14 seconds ahead of Pierre LaTour (Total Energies).

With fellow Grenadiers Elia Viviani and Ethan Hayter dropped on the penultimate Col de l’Aire dei Masco with 25km to go and Richard Carapaz not starting due to COVID-19 protocols, Ganna took it upon himself to try for a victory, and was in a good position to do so on the front of the group with 400 metres to go.

LaTour launched alongside him to make his own bid for the win until Coquard blitzed ahead of both riders with a devastating acceleration as Alaphilippe pushed to stay with him and got onto his wheel but couldn't quite move ahead into the lead.

Coquard's victory was just reward for Cofidis, who chased the early five-man breakaway all day on the front of the peloton and put their plan into action on the climb, too strong for the other competitors as Pierre-Luc Perichon took the helm on the final kilometre to give Coquard a great lead-out.

The Tour de la Provence concludes tonight with a decisive summit finish at Montagne de Lure set to decide the tight battle for the black leader's jersey.

Watch the final stage of the Tour de la Provence tonight from 11:30pm (AEDT) LIVE on SBS On Demand.