Classic Grand Besançon Doubs 2021 [FULL RACE] (french)

September 3, 2021

Classic Grand Besançon Doubs 2021 – Besançon – Marchaux : 172,55 km

The Classic Grand Besançon Doubs is a cycling race created in 2021 that is part of the UCI Europe Tour calendar (category 1.1). The race takes place mainly in the territory of the metropolis of Grand Besançon.

21-year-old Eritrean Biniam Girmay claimed his first major victory at the first edition of the Classic Grand Besançon Doubs three months after making a mid-season transfer from Delko to Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert.

Girmay beat Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën) and Axel Zingle (Cofidis) from a seven-rider attack that included Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).

The escape formed after Groupama-FDJ closed down the day’s early breakaway when Quintana attacked on the last climb, the Col de la Grande Côte, with 13km to go. Pinot followed and Girmay, Luca Chirico (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Denis Nekrasov (Gazprom-RusVelo) all made it across.

Quintana attacked again and Girmay and Vendrame went with him but they were reeled in by Pinot and Zingle, but Girmay kept his cool and powered to the win.

A winner of stages in the Tour of Rwanda and Tropicale Amissa Bongo, the victory was Girmay’s first in Europe since he beat Remco Evenepoel to win the opening stage of the Aubel-Thimister-Stavelot junior stage race in 2018.

“I think this is my best victory. It is important to win because the team that expects me to win, but also for me,” Girmay said according to DirectVelo.

“When I escaped with Quintana, Pinot and the others, I was a little bit afraid because Quintana was very strong and we still had one more climb to go. On that climb I felt better.

“I was looking forward to this race. I am in very good shape at the moment so there was fear at first and then motivation.

“I was confident for the sprint. In the last kilometers I became more confident because I have a good sprint. I was not afraid at that moment. I like sprints in small groups, it’s my specialty.”

The win gives Girmay confidence for the weekend’s Tour du Doubs and the upcoming world championships.

“This weekend is the most important for me. I love the Tour du Doubs. Last year I finished second so this year it is likely that we have our chances to win. We will go for it”.

Results :
1 Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 4:10:20
2 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R Citroën Team
3 Axel Zingle (Fra) Cofidis
4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
5 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
6 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:00:35
7 Denis Nekrasov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo 0:00:37
8 Matis Louvel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:45
9 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel – Auber 93
10 Tom Paquot (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
11 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
12 Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fra) Cofidis
13 Julien Simon (Fra) TotalEnergies
14 Simone Velasco (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo
15 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
16 Maxime Urruty (Fra) Xelliss – Roubaix Lille Metropole
17 Alexandre Delettre (Fra) Delko
18 Natnael Tesfazion (Eri) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
19 Pier Andre Cote (Can) Rally Cycling
20 Cristian Scaroni (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo
21 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
22 Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
23 Roland Thalmann (Swi) Team Vorarlberg
24 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
25 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
26 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
27 Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
28 Riccardo Lucca (Ita) General Store – F.Lli Curia – Essegibi
29 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
30 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R Citroën Team
31 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) TotalEnergies
32 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
33 Veljko Stojnic (Srb) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
34 Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
35 Antoine Debons (Swi) Team Vorarlberg
36 Sander De Pestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
37 Alessandro Fedeli (Ita) Delko
38 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
39 Julian Mertens (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
40 Hugo Toumire (Fra) Cofidis
41 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
42 Fabien Doubey (Fra) TotalEnergies
43 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
44 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
45 Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
46 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
47 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:00:55
48 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis 0:00:57
49 Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel – Auber 93 0:01:04
50 Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis
51 Romain Cardis (Fra) St Michel – Auber 93 0:01:50
52 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Delko 0:03:49
53 Andrea Di Renzo (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
54 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
55 Leonardo Tortomasi (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
56 Jeroen Eyskens (Bel) Evopro Racing
57 Andréa Mifsud (Fra) Swiss Racing Academy
58 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
59 Sergei Chernetskii (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
60 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
61 Alexis Guerin (Fra) Team Vorarlberg
62 Luc Wirtgen (Lux) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 0:04:28
63 Alessandro Iacchi (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM 0:05:17
64 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
65 Charles-Etienne Chretien (Can) Rally Cycling
66 Nicola Venchiarutti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:06:23
67 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:07:10
68 Gwen Leclainche (Fra) France 0:07:13
69 Damian Lüscher (Swi) Swiss Racing Academy 0:07:30
70 Mathias De Witte (Bel) Xelliss – Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:07:42
71 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:09:35
72 Marlon Gaillard (Fra) TotalEnergies
73 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) TotalEnergies
74 Remy Mertz (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
75 Guillaume Dauschy (Fra) Xelliss – Roubaix Lille Metropole
76 Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
77 Cedric Beullens (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
78 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
79 Adria Moreno Sala (Spa) Team Vorarlberg
80 Antoine Aebi (Swi)
81 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
82 Thomas Morichon (Fra) France
83 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
84 Cyrus Monk (Aus) Evopro Racing
85 Maxime Jarnet (Fra) Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux
86 Thomas Acosta (Fra) Evopro Racing
87 Dillon Corkery (Irl) Evopro Racing
88 Yannis Voisard (Swi) Swiss Racing Academy
89 Gauthier Navarro (Fra) France
90 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Xelliss – Roubaix Lille Metropole
91 José Gonçalves (Por) Delko
92 Baptiste Bleier (Fra) St Michel – Auber 93 0:10:52
93 Simon Baran (Fra) France 0:11:00
94 Maxime Richard (Fra) France
95 Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Spa) Delko 0:11:54
96 Mathieu Rigollot (Fra) France 0:12:09
97 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
98 Conn Mc Dunphy (Irl) Evopro Racing
99 Arthur Blanc (Fra)
100 Quentin Venner (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
101 Emilien Jeanniere (Fra) Totalenergies
102 Colin Chris Stüssi (Swi) Team Vorarlberg
103 Daniel Ganahl (Aut) Team Vorarlberg
104 Thomas Champion (Fra) Cofidis
105 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
106 Johan Meens (Bel) Bingoal Wb Development Team
107 Filippo Tagliani (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:13:24
108 Jonathan Brown (USA) Evopro Racing 0:13:25
109 Mulu Kinfe Hailemichael (Eth) Delko
110 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:14:27
111 Raphael Parisella (Can) Rally Cycling
112 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
113 Mattia Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
114 Lucas Dauge (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
115 Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
116 Alexander Evans (Aus) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
117 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
118 Roberto González (Pan) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
119 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) TotalEnergies
120 Oliver Behringer (Swi) Team Novo Nordisk 0:15:24
121 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling 0:15:35
122 Ruben Eggenberg (Swi) Swiss Racing Academy 0:15:57
123 August Jensen (Nor) Delko 0:19:25
124 Morgan Kneisky (Fra) France 0:19:35
125 Jaakko Hänninen (Fin) AG2R Citroën Team