Today, the 205.4 kilometer long second stage of the French weekend race, Tour du Haut Var, was run on a hilly stretch between Fréjus and Fayence, where the terrain called for attack . Although a larger group of riders got the hollow field, however, the front was split up on the many small climbs along the way and the beaten riders were again hauled in by the accelerating field.
In the final, three riders with a strong insistence Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) as the primary engine managed to tease the field for a long time, but on the penultimate climb before the finish, the riders gathered for a brief moment before a new team with Team Saxo Bank’s Daniel Navarro moved away the gradually metal tired field.
On the last mile up a steep climb to goal, this group was also completely split, and on the finish line Jonathan Tiernan-Lock (Endura Racing) was in a class of his own and he took a convincing victory.
Team Saxo Bank’s Daniel Navarro emerged in the final and finished at number four, and sports director Dan Frost is pleased with:
“Dani (Navarro) is in the right place at the right time and is well-flanked by his teammates until the penultimate climb, where he is strongly involved in the decisive outbreak. On the steep climb, however, he falls back a little. He is primarily a mountain rider, and longer and tougher climbs are needed before his potential can be exploited for a better result.
An excellent performance by the team, but Jonas (Aaen) and Jaro (Marycz) were both on the tarmac, and we feared that Jaro had broken his wrist, but after a walk in the hospital, it turned out that he got away with the fright. It has been a really tough weekend with 400 running kilometers, and now we are finishing the last of the training camp before the spring classics, ”
says Frost.
Jonathan Tiernan-Lock won the race overall.