Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) took a solo victory at the Faun Drome Classics, attacking the breakaway he was part of in the closing 4km and crossing the uphill finish line with the win.
It was a 1-2 for UAE Team Emirates as Juan Ayuso jumped ahead of the chase group on the final ascent to claim second place. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) finished third on the day.
Faun Drome Classics was an 189km race that started and finished at Étoile-sur-Rhône. The route offered two large loops and 17 categorised ascents before an uphill finish in Étoile-sur-Rhône.
An early breakaway emerged that included Noah Detalle (Bingoal WB), Antoine Hue (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) and Alexander Konijn(Nice Metropole Cote d’Azur).
The gap extended to 1:15 over the Mur d’Eurre, just 15km into the race. That lead extended to nearly four minutes as the trio passed through the finish line for the first time with 146km to go.
Lotto-Dstny and UAE Team Emirates did the lion’s share of the work at the front of the peloton, bringing the gap down to a more manageable 2:50 inside 75km.
Ultimately, Detalle, Hue and Konijn were caught by the peloton just ahead of the Col de Tartaiguille 50km out.
Lidl-Trek pulled the field into the Col de la Grande Limite (4.6km à 6.1%). As attacks went, the peloton split part over the top, and by the time the front riders reached the Côte des Roberts, six emerged to form a new breakaway that included Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Warren Barguil (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) and Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team).
The six built a lead to over a minute on the approach to the final three ascents and maintained that into the last 5km of the race.
Hirschi attacked inside 4km from the line quickly pulling out a lead of 10 seconds as the rain began to pour down on the riders in the final of the race. He extended that lead into the final 800m and crossed the uphill finish line with the victory.
Looking back, Hirschi watched the race for second place among the chase group to see his teammate Ayuso jump ahead of the others on the climb to secure a 1-2 for UAE Team Emirates, Van Gils third, and the rest of the breakaway raced over the line for the next places.
Attackers from the peloton Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and Corbin Strong (Israel Premier Tech) had jumped ahead of the field and finished 7th and 8th, respectively, a few seconds ahead…
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