Route d'Occitanie: Marijn van den Berg holds off Elia Viviani to win stage 1
Andy McGrath
·4 min read
GRUISSAN, FRANCE - JUNE 15: (L-R) Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands and Team EF Education-EasyPost celebrates at finish line as stage winner ahead of Paul Penhoët of France and Team Groupama - FDJ, Elia Viviani of Italy and Team INEOS Grenadiers and Sandy Dujardin of France and Team TotalEnergies during the 47th La Route D'Occitanie-La Depeche Du Midi 2023, Stage 1 a 184.3km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15, 2023 in Gruissan, France. (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
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GRUISSAN, FRANCE - JUNE 15: (L-R) Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands and Team EF Education-EasyPost celebrates at finish line as stage winner ahead of Paul Penhoët of France and Team Groupama - FDJ, Elia Viviani of Italy and Team INEOS Grenadiers and Sandy Dujardin of France and Team TotalEnergies during the 47th La Route D'Occitanie-La Depeche Du Midi 2023, Stage 1 a 184.3km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15, 2023 in Gruissan, France. (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands and Team EF EducationEasyPost celebrates at finish line as stage winner during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 LR Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands and Team EF EducationEasyPost celebrates at finish line as stage winner ahead of Paul Penhot of France and Team Groupama FDJ Elia Viviani of Italy and Team INEOS Grenadiers and Sandy Dujardin of France and Team TotalEnergies during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 Stage winner Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands and Team EF EducationEasyPost reacts after the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 Omer Goldstein of Israel and Team Israel Premier Tech Rudy Molard of France Paul Penhot of France Enzo Paleni of France Clment Davy of France Lorenzo Germani of Italy Bram Welten of The Netherlands Lars van den Berg of The Netherlands and Team Groupama FDJ lead the peloton during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 Jacob Hindsgaul of Denmark and Team UnoX Pro Cycling competes in the breakaway during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 LR Omer Goldstein of Israel and Team Israel Premier Tech Joshua Tarling of The United Kingdom and Team INEOS Grenadiers Chris Froome of The United Kingdom and Team Israel Premier Tech and Filippo Ganna of Italy and Team INEOS Grenadiers lead the peloton during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 Clement Davy of France and Team Groupama FDJ leads the peloton during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 A general view of the peloton competing during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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NARBONNE FRANCE JUNE 15 Joshua Tarling of The United Kingdom and Team INEOS Grenadiers prior to the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Narbonne France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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NARBONNE FRANCE JUNE 15 Benot Cosnefroy of France and AG2R Citroen Team prior to the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Narbonne France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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NARBONNE FRANCE JUNE 15 Diego Andrs Camargo of Colombia Simon Carr of The United Kingdom Odd Christian Eiking of Norway Michael Valgren of Denmark Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands ukasz Winiowski of Poland and Team EF EducationEasyPost prior to the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Narbonne France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands and Team EF EducationEasyPost celebrates at podium as White Best Young Rider winner during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
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GRUISSAN FRANCE JUNE 15 Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands and Team EF EducationEasyPost celebrates at podium as Red Leader Jersey winner during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 1 a 1843km stage from Narbonne to Gruissan on June 15 2023 in Gruissan France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) won the first stage of the Route d’Occitanie in a bunch sprint after a nervy, crosswind-affected day in southern France.
The Dutchman pipped Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) on the finish line, with Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) in third place after a 184.3km route between Narbonne and Gruissan.
“It’s always really nice to win. I think it was a tough day, especially because it was really warm and we rode really hard,” Van den Berg said after the finish. It is his second victory of the season, following his triumph at January’s Trofeo des Salines-Alcudia.
“Simon Carr is our leader this week so we will try to help him to get the best result possible,” he added. “It’s really nice that he’s from this area so he’s motivated as well.”
There was a threat of splits in the bunch on the blustery finale around Narbonne.
Breakaway members Théo Delacroix (St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93), Carlos García (Equipo Kern Pharma), Maxime Urrity (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Burgos-BH pair Eric Antonio Fagundez and Mario Aparicio were brought to heel 50 kilometres from the finish as the pace shot up in the peloton.
Groupama-FDJ and Ineos Grenadiers were to the fore. With winds gusting over 35 kph, nerves were high and no contender wanted to be caught out.
Léo Danès (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) and Célestin Guillon (Van Rysel-Roubaix Lille Métropole escaped with 25 kilometres to go before being brought to heel as the speed shot up before the seaside crosswind finale.
With seven kilometres left, 25 riders made the front split in the wind as EF Education-EasyPost forced the tempo.
On an anxious run-in, Bram Welten (Groupama-FDJ) and an Euskaltel-Euskadi rider crashed due to a touch of wheels in the front group.
In the final kilometre, Filippo Ganna roared to the front to give a lead-out for Viviani. However, the Italian opted to stay several wheels back and was boxed in as Van den Berg started the sprint.
He had to elbow his way past Sandy Dujardin on the barriers and it was too little, too late. Van den Berg held on, making sure of victory with a bike throw on the line.
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