The 2018 Tour La Provence was a
road cycling
Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...
stage race
A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages ...
that took place between 8 and 11 February 2018. The race was rated as a
2.1
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing, classifies races according to a rating scale.
The rating is represented by a code made of two or three parts and indicates both the type or style ...
event as part of the
2018 UCI Europe Tour
The 2018 UCI Europe Tour was the fourteenth season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2018 season began on 25 January 2018 with the Vuelta a Mallorca, Trofeo Porreres, Felanitx, Ses Salines, Campos and ended on 16 October 2018 with the Nationale Sluiting ...
, and was the third edition of the
Tour La Provence
The Tour de la Provence is an early-season bicycle stage race in the Provence region of France. It is organized by southern French newspaper La Provence, which serves as the race's title sponsor for its first three years. It is held in February, ...
.
The race was won by French rider
Alexandre Geniez
Alexandre Geniez (born 16 April 1988) is a French professional cyclist, who last rode for UCI ProTeam .
In March 2022 Geniez was convicted of domestic violence charges and given a four month suspended prison sentence.
On 31 May 2022 terminated ...
, of the .
Teams
Sixteen teams were invited to start the race. These included two
UCI WorldTeam
A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road cycling, the UCI World Tour or UCI ProTour
...
s, eight
UCI Professional Continental
The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...
teams and six
UCI Continental
The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...
teams.
Route
Stages
Prologue
;8 February 2018 —
to
,
Stage 1
;9 February 2018 —
Aubagne
Aubagne (, ''Aubanha'' in Occitan language, Occitan according to the classic norm or ''Aubagno'' according to the Mistralian norm) is a Commune in France, commune in the southern French Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône. In ...
to
Istres
Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture.
Location
Istr ...
,
Stage 2
;10 February 2018 —
La Ciotat
La Ciotat (; oc, label= Provençal Occitan, La Ciutat ; in Mistralian spelling ''La Ciéutat''; 'the City') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. It is the southeasternmo ...
to
Gémenos - Col de l'Espigoulier,
Stage 3
;11 February 2018 —
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
to
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
,
Classification leadership table
In the 2018 Tour La Provence, four different jerseys were awarded for the main classifications. For the
general classification
The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...
, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, the leader received a blue jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2018 Tour La Provence, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.
Additionally, there was a
points classification
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...
, which awarded a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 15 in a mass-start stage. For winning a stage, a rider earned 25 points, with 20 for second, 16 for third, 13 for fourth, 11 for fifth with a point fewer per place down to a single point for 15th place. Points towards the classification could also be accrued at intermediate sprint points during each stage. There was also a
mountains classification
The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...
, the leadership of which was marked by a red jersey. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs. The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided in the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1995 were eligible to be ranked in the classification.
Additional jerseys were also awarded for the best rider in the overall classification from the Provence region (grey jersey), the most combative rider (black jersey) and the rider placed highest cumulatively across the general, points and mountains classification (multi-coloured jersey).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tour la Provence, 2018
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
2018 UCI Europe Tour
2018 in French sport
February 2017 sports events in France