Tour de l’Ain 2020 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

August 7, 2020

Tour de l’Ain 2020 – Stage 1 – Montréal-la-Cluse – Ceyzeriat : 139,5 km

No one can take any great pleasure in the circumstances that have led to this restructured cycling season, but the organisers of the Tour de l’Ain have acknowledged that 2020 has ‘smiled’ upon them. A small stage race in the east of France, sitting on the third-tier of the racing circuit, has been transformed into a key juncture on the road to the Tour de France, and has attracted perhaps the strongest start list in its 32-year history. Previously set to take place in late May, having moved from its traditional mid-August slot in 2018, the three-stage 2020 edition will now take place from August 7-9. Sandwiched between the Route d’Occitanie and the Critérium du Dauphiné, it will see a host of Tour contenders move through the gears, including the Team Ineos trio of Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, and Chris Froome – the past three winners of La Grande Boucle.

Following a fascinating battle between Jumbo-Visma and Team Ineos in the closing kilometres of the opening stage of the Tour de l’Ain, Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Andrea Bagioli got the better of the big guns, judging the final uphill sprint into Ceyzeriat perfectly to edge out Jumbo leader Primoz Roglic right on the line for the stage win and the race lead.

The three-day French stage race had been billed as a heavyweight contest between the Dutch and the British outfits, and it didn’t disappoint, the two teams riding side-by-side once the day’s break had been reeled in with 10km remaining.

Team Ineos led the way for the most part, but it was Roglic who produced the first notable strike, accelerating hard as the road ramped up 1.5km from the line, Ineos’ Tour de France champion Egan Bernal the quickest to respond to the Slovene champion.

As the pick of the stage contenders began to come back together entering the final straight, Tom Dumoulin, racing for the first time in more than a year, powered to the front to lead out Roglic. It seemed the Slovene would finish off his teammate’s work with victory, but, having made that earlier attack, the Slovene champion didn’t have the speed in his legs to hold off Bagioli, who came through on his left to take the stage. He promptly dedicated it to teammate Fabio Jakobsen, who remains in hospital following his horrific crash at the Tour of Poland two days ago.

“It’s incredible. After I’d crossed the line I couldn’t believe that I’d won, then I was told I had done. It’s a crazy feeling,” said Bagioli, whose last victory was in the under-23 Tour of Lombardy last October. “Thanks to my team for this. The victory is dedicated to Fabio. We hope that he recovers quickly and is soon able to return to the group.”

How it unfolded

The stage was animated by four riders, who went clear soon after the start in Montréal La Cluse. Alexis Brunel (Groupama-FDJ), Ivan Centrone (Natura 4 Ever), Martin Salmon (Sunweb) and Michal Paluta (Team CCC) quickly built up a lead of two minutes, but were then held in check, Israel Start-Up Nation doing the majority of the pace-making behind the quartet, with Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) also helping out a good deal.

The break’s advantage began to erode with 40km remaining, initially when B&B Hotels-Vital Concept joined Israel Start-Up Nation in setting the pace in the bunch. It came down even more quickly when, with 25km, Ineos and Jumbo-Visma moved up in numbers, too.

With 21km left, Brunel pushed on hard, taking Paluta and Salmon with him, only for the Frenchman to pay for his effort 2km later, leaving just two in the lead. Their collaboration lasted only a kilometre, though, before Paluta jumped clear on his own with the main pack by now little more than 20 seconds behind.

At the same time, his CCC teammate Georg Zimmermann accelerated out of the peloton and managed to bridge up to Paluta, bringing Salmon along with him. Polish champion Paluta gave all he had left to boost Zimmermann’s advantage on the bunch before yielding with 12km left. It was to no avail, however, as Zimmermann and Salmon were reeled in 10km from home.

That left Ineos and Jumbo riding side by side, often at a frenzied pace that left the bunch lined out behind them. Their duel augurs well for the much more testing final two days of this race, which concludes with a summit finish on the Grand Colombier on Sunday.

Results :
1 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 3:17:00
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
3 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) Switzerland
4 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
5 Erik Fetter (Hun) Kometa Xstra
6 Giacomo Garavaglia (Ita) Kometa Xstra
7 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
8 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
11 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
12 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
13 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
14 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Ineos
15 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
16 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
17 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
18 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Switzerland
19 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
20 Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team Sunweb
21 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
22 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
23 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
24 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos
25 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation
26 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team
27 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Ineos
28 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
29 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
30 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
31 Márton Dina (Hun) Kometa Xstra
32 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
33 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
34 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
35 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale
36 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
37 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R la Mondiale
38 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis
39 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation
40 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team
41 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
42 Simone Petilli (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert
43 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
44 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
45 Jarrad Drizners (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
46 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
47 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates
48 Jakob Geßner (Ger) Germany
49 Adrien Guillonnet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
50 Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
51 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Cofidis
52 Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Spa) Nippo Delko Provence
53 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
54 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team Sunweb
55 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
56 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
57 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
58 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
59 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Circus-Wanty Gobert
60 Sergio Garcia Gonzalez (Spa) Kometa Xstra
61 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
62 Kevin Vermaerke (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
63 Miguel Heidemann (Ger) Germany
64 Mathias De Witte (Bel) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
65 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
66 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
67 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
68 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
69 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
70 Thomas Degand (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
71 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
72 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
73 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
74 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
75 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal
76 Sean Quinn (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
77 Lindsay De Vylder (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:23
78 Johannes Adamietz (Ger) Germany 0:00:31
79 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:33
80 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:00:38
81 Baptiste Constantin (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
82 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:47
83 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates
84 James Fouchee (NZl) Hagens Berman Axeon
85 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie
86 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:57
87 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
88 Matthias Fluckiger (Swi) Switzerland
89 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
90 Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep
91 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
92 Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
93 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
94 Claudio Imhof (Swi) Switzerland
95 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb
96 Pedro Andrade (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
97 Antoine Aebi (Swi) Switzerland
98 Tom Dernies (Bel) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
99 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:16
100 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
101 Daniel Viegas (Por) Kometa Xstra
102 Baptiste Bleier (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
103 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
104 Henrik Pakalski (Ger) Germany
105 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
106 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
107 Gilles de Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
108 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
109 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
110 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic
111 Dominik Röber (Ger) Germany 0:01:42
112 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:46
113 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Ineos
114 Jannis Peter (Ger) Germany
115 Antonio Puppio (Ita) Kometa Xstra
116 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) CCC Team
117 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:01:52
118 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis 0:02:17
119 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
120 Rasmus Byriel Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal
121 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:54
122 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
123 Andrey Amador (CRc) Team Ineos
124 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:03:09
125 Simon Imboden (Swi) Switzerland 0:03:23
126 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:03:28
127 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie
128 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:03:45
129 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
130 Attilio Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
131 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Team 0:04:03
132 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Team Ineos 0:04:29
133 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:05:14
134 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:06:05
135 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
136 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
137 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:06:18
138 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:06:26
139 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:07:02
140 Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:07:25
141 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
142 Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:13:37
143 Bryan Alaphilippe (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
144 Ivan Centrone (Lux) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 3:16:50
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:04
3 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) Switzerland 0:00:06
4 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:10
5 Erik Fetter (Hun) Kometa Xstra
6 Giacomo Garavaglia (Ita) Kometa Xstra
7 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
8 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
11 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
12 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
13 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
14 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Ineos
15 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
16 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
17 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
18 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Switzerland
19 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
20 Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team Sunweb
21 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
22 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
23 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
24 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos
25 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation
26 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team
27 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Ineos
28 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
29 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
30 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
31 Márton Dina (Hun) Kometa Xstra
32 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
33 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
34 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
35 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale
36 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
37 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R la Mondiale
38 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis
39 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation
40 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team
41 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
42 Simone Petilli (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert
43 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
44 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
45 Jarrad Drizners (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
46 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
47 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates
48 Jakob Geßner (Ger) Germany
49 Adrien Guillonnet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
50 Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
51 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Cofidis
52 Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Spa) Nippo Delko Provence
53 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
54 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team Sunweb
55 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
56 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
57 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
58 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
59 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Circus-Wanty Gobert
60 Sergio Garcia Gonzalez (Spa) Kometa Xstra
61 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
62 Kevin Vermaerke (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
63 Miguel Heidemann (Ger) Germany
64 Mathias De Witte (Bel) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
65 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
66 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
67 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
68 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
69 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
70 Thomas Degand (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
71 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
72 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
73 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
74 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
75 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal
76 Sean Quinn (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
77 Lindsay De Vylder (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:33
78 Johannes Adamietz (Ger) Germany 0:00:41
79 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:43
80 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:00:48
81 Baptiste Constantin (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
82 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:57
83 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates
84 James Fouchee (NZl) Hagens Berman Axeon
85 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie
86 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:07
87 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
88 Matthias Fluckiger (Swi) Switzerland
89 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
90 Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep
91 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
92 Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
93 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
94 Claudio Imhof (Swi) Switzerland
95 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb
96 Pedro Andrade (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
97 Antoine Aebi (Swi) Switzerland
98 Tom Dernies (Bel) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
99 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:26
100 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
101 Daniel Viegas (Por) Kometa Xstra
102 Baptiste Bleier (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
103 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
104 Henrik Pakalski (Ger) Germany
105 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
106 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
107 Gilles de Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
108 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
109 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
110 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic
111 Dominik Röber (Ger) Germany 0:01:52
112 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:56
113 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Ineos
114 Jannis Peter (Ger) Germany
115 Antonio Puppio (Ita) Kometa Xstra
116 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) CCC Team
117 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:02:02
118 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis 0:02:27
119 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
120 Rasmus Byriel Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal
121 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:03:04
122 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
123 Andrey Amador (CRc) Team Ineos
124 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:03:19
125 Simon Imboden (Swi) Switzerland 0:03:33
126 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:03:38
127 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie
128 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:03:55
129 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
130 Attilio Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
131 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Team 0:04:13
132 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Team Ineos 0:04:39
133 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:05:24
134 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:06:15
135 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
136 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
137 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:06:28
138 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:06:36
139 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:07:12
140 Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:07:35
141 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
142 Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:13:47
143 Bryan Alaphilippe (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
144 Ivan Centrone (Lux) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole