Owain Doul, along with a three-man breakaway group, held off a chase by the peloton on the final stage of the Tour de la Provence, extending Team Ineos' winning chances for 2020 in Aix-en-Provence. With this victory, Doull moves into first place as the favorite to win the next two semi-classics, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Courne Brussel-Coone.

Doull, who finished second in the Couine last year, admitted, "I didn't expect the break to last."

"But in the end I was very happy. But in the end I was very happy. [I knew the course from last year and I knew I had a good chance because it was downhill a lot and fast. Once I got into the last two kilometers, I started thinking about sprinting and tactical things."

Knowing the qualities of two of his fellow escapees, American ruler Ian Garrison and time triallist Matthias Brandl, Dool waited for the right moment.

"I knew about Brendel and I knew about Garrison. I'm a good sprinter, so I didn't want to get too far back on the last corner, and I was watching the other guys."

"Now it's on to the classics. And I want to compete in the main classics like Paris-Nice, then E3, Flanders, and Roubaix. Last year I finished second in Coulée, and I want to keep learning and getting results.

Ineos sport director Brett Lancaster described Doule as "primarily a worker," but added that he was given a free role in the final stage in Provence.

"Owain had a big month in Australia and came back here. This is his first win and usually this gets him back on track. It's always good to have that first win under your belt."

Doull will now be at the forefront of Lancaster's hopes for the Ineos Classic program. Said Lancaster, "Let's see if we can put together a good classical campaign."

"We've taken a different approach this year, and we've done a lot of different initiatives.

"If we can win one Classic," Lancaster said. 'We have some motivated riders this year, and we're going to attack with everything we've got. We have some motivated riders this year, and we're going to go full attack."

"We're going to go full attack," Lancaster said.

Although the stage races are the main competition, Ineos has a strong Classics team, and Dool is expected to be the team's main competition this time of year, along with Gianni Moscon, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, and Dylan Van Barre. The cobblestone season kicks off with the "opening weekend" of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel Kuurne from February 28 to March 1.