Ruben Guerreiro and Esteban Chaves one-two on Ventoux ahead of Tour de France

This article originally appeared on Velo News

Ruben Guerreiro and Esteban Chaves of EF Education-EasyPost went one-two on cycling’s most famous just weeks ahead of the Tour de France at the Mont Ventoux Denivele Challenge on Tuesday.

The podiums come at a good time for both riders hoping to earn a berth at the Tour, and for the team, which is hovering towards the bottom of the team rankings.

Guerreiro attacked to gap the field, and Chaves followed in to give the team victory after both riders raced hard at the Criterium du Dauphine last week.

“It is a big mountain, but the team worked a lot and believed in me," Guerreiro said. "I am really glad to win on this climb. Now we are ready for what's next. I hope to be in the Tour selection.”

Also read: Esteban Chaves still smiling, still chasing dreams

Guerreiro, who climbed into the top-10 at the Dauphine, said he hopes the victory bodes well for the rest of the season for the team.

"This spring we had bad luck, but we kept training and were persistent," Guerreiro said. "I believed that I could win and the team always helped me. We were struggling a little bit with illness, but now it is fine. We are here and we can win.

“It is great to have such a win. I attacked after everyone did such great work. Everyone was a part of this victory. Esteban was just behind. It is special to have this victory. We needed it,” said Guerreiro.

EF controlled much of the action across the race, which features two passages up the famous steeps of Mont Ventoux. Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) was third.

"If you have the best climbers, you want to do the climbs. And the best legs speak for themselves,” said sports director Ken Vanmarcke.

"When we started the last climb, the big one, we started to pick up the pace to make it harder on everyone. We preferred to have a fast, strong pace than to have people attacking because then you lose the control. The whole team was really, really strong today," Vanmarcke said.

For exclusive access to all of our fitness, gear, adventure, and travel stories, plus discounts on trips, events, and gear, sign up for Outside+ today.