2015 Tour du Haut Var

2015 Tour du Haut Var

Ben Gastauer, overall winner of the 2015 Tour du Haut Var
Race details
Dates		February 21, 2015–February 22, 2015
Stages		2
Distance		364.7 km (226.6 mi)
Winning time		9hr 14' 21" (39.5 km/h or 24.5 mph)
Palmares
	Winner	Ben Gastauer (LUX)	(AG2R La Mondiale)
	Second	Philippe Gilbert (BEL)	(BMC Racing Team)
	Third	Jonathan Hivert (FRA)	(Bretagne–Séché Environnement)
	Points	Philippe Gilbert (BEL)	(BMC Racing Team)
	Mountains	Ignatas Konovalovas (LIT)	(Team Marseille 13 KTM)
	Youth	Quentin Pacher (FRA)	(Armée de Terre)
	Team	Bretagne–Séché Environnement

The 2015 Tour du Haut Var was the 47th edition of the Tour du Haut Var road cycling stage race.^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

The 2015 race was particularly notable for returning to the difficult terrain that had been a feature of the race in its early years.^[4] In contrast to most stage races, it favours classics riders rather than pure climbers, and is seen as excellent preparation for the classics season.^[5]

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 (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 WorldTour teams.^[6]

• AG2R La Mondiale
• Androni Giocattoli
• Auber 93
• BMC Racing Team
• Bretagne–Séché Environnement
• CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice
• Cofidis
• Cult Energy Pro Cycling
• Armée de Terre
• FDJ
• IAM Cycling
• Roubaix–Lille Métropole
• Team Europcar
• Team Froy Oslo
• Giant–Alpecin
• Team Katusha
• Team Marseille 13 KTM
• Veranclassic-Ekoi
• Wallonie-Bruxelles

Preview

Philippe Gilbert, a former champion of the Tour du Haut Var and one of the pre-race favourites in 2015

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).^[3] 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.^[5]

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.^[3][7] The second stage took the riders across several more difficult climbs, including the Côte des Tuilières 20 km (12 mi) before the finish.^[3][8]

Stages

Stage	Date	Route	Distance	Type		Winner
1	21 February	Le Cannet-des-Maures − Seillans	170 km (106 mi)		Hilly stage	Ben Gastauer (LUX)
2	22 February	Draguignan − Draguignan	194.7 km (121 mi)		Hilly stage	Luka Mezgec (SLO)

Stage 1

Seillans, the finish of 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.^[9]

The day's early break was formed by Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale), Ignatas Konovalovas (Marseille), Thomas Vaoubourzeix (Veranclassic), Roy Curvers (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.^[9][10][11]

Gastauer therefore took over the overall lead of the race by seven seconds.

Stage 1 Result Rider Team Time 1  Ben Gastauer (LUX) AG2R La Mondiale 4hr 11' 15" 2  Jonathan Hivert (FRA) Bretagne–Séché Environnement +7" 3  Philippe Gilbert (BEL) BMC Racing Team s.t. 4  Fabian Wegmann (GER) Cult Energy Pro Cycling s.t. 5  Christophe Laporte (FRA) Cofidis s.t. 6  Simon Špilak (SLO) Team Katusha s.t. 7  Alexey Tsatevich (RUS) Team Katusha s.t. 8  Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA) FDJ s.t. 9  Linus Gerdemann (GER) Cult Energy Pro Cycling s.t. 10  Ángel Vicioso (SPA) Team Katusha s.t.

General Classification after Stage 1 Rider Team Time 1  Ben Gastauer (LUX) AG2R La Mondiale 4hr 11' 15" 2  Jonathan Hivert (FRA) Bretagne–Séché Environnement +7" 3  Philippe Gilbert (BEL) BMC Racing Team s.t. 4  Fabian Wegmann (GER) Cult Energy Pro Cycling s.t. 5  Christophe Laporte (FRA) Cofidis s.t. 6  Simon Špilak (SLO) Team Katusha s.t. 7  Alexey Tsatevich (RUS) Team Katusha s.t. 8  Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA) FDJ s.t. 9  Linus Gerdemann (GER) Cult Energy Pro Cycling s.t. 10  Ángel Vicioso (SPA) Team Katusha s.t.

Stage 2

Luka Mezgec, winner of 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.^[3][8]

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 (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.^[12][13][14]

Stage 2 Result Rider Team Time 1  Luka Mezgec (SLO) Giant–Alpecin 5hr 03' 06" 2  Philippe Gilbert (BEL) BMC Racing Team s.t. 3  Baptiste Planckaert (BEL) Roubaix–Lille Métropole s.t. 4  Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA) FDJ s.t. 5  Julien El Fares (FRA) Team Marseille 13 KTM s.t. 6  Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team s.t. 7  Jonathan Hivert (FRA) Bretagne–Séché Environnement s.t. 8  Rudy Molard (FRA) Cofidis s.t. 9  Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 10  Alexey Tsatevich (RUS) Team Katusha s.t.

General Classification after Stage 2 Rider Team Time 1  Ben Gastauer (LUX) AG2R La Mondiale 9hr 14' 21" 2  Philippe Gilbert (BEL) BMC Racing Team +7" 3  Jonathan Hivert (FRA) Bretagne–Séché Environnement s.t. 4  Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA) FDJ s.t. 5  Baptiste Planckaert (BEL) Roubaix–Lille Métropole s.t. 6  Alexey Tsatevich (RUS) Team Katusha s.t. 7  Julien El Fares (FRA) Team Marseille 13 KTM s.t. 8  Davide Rebellin (ITA) CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice s.t. 9  Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 10  Yoann Bagot (FRA) Cofidis s.t.

Classification leadership table

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Young riders classification	Teams classification
1	Ben Gastauer	Ben Gastauer	Ben Gastauer	Thomas Vaubourzeix	Christophe Laporte	AG2R La Mondiale
2	Luka Mezgec		Philippe Gilbert	Ignatas Konovalovas	Quentin Pacher	Bretagne–Séché Environnement
Final		Ben Gastauer	Philippe Gilbert	Ignatas Konovalovas	Quentin Pacher	Bretagne–Séché Environnement

References

1. "Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var-martin 2015 - General Classification". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
2. "Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var-martin 2015 - General Classification". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
3. "Tour du Haut Var — Le Haut Var renoue avec ses classiques". Velo101 (in French). 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
4. "Le Tour du haut Var-matin regagne ses reliefs". Varmatin.com. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
5. Axelgaard, Emil (19 February 2015). "Tour du Haut Var preview". Cyclingquotes.com. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
6. "Le Tour du Haut-Var 2015 promet une belle édition". be-celt.com (in French). 11 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
7. "Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var-matin 2015 - Stage 1". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
8. "Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var-matin 2015 - Stage 2". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
9. Axelgaard, Emil (21 February 2015). "Gastauer takes huge solo win in Haut Var opener". Cyclingquotes.com. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
10. "Gastauer, une première bien arrosée". L'Equipe (in French). Retrieved 21 February 2015.
11. "Ben Gastauer wins Tour du Haut Var opener". Cyclingnews.com. 21 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
12. "Tour du Haut Var — Mezgec s'invite, Gastauer résiste". Velo101 (in French). Sport 101. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
13. "Mezgec le plus rapide à Draguignan". Cyclismeactu (in French). 22 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
14. "Mezgec wins stage 2 of Tour du Haut Var". Cyclingnews.com. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.