Tour de l’Ain 2020 – Stage 3 [FULL STAGE]

August 9, 2020

Tour de l’Ain 2020 – Stage 3 – Saint-Vulbas – Grand Colombier : 144,5 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.

Primož Roglič and his Jumbo-Visma team will head to the Critérium du Dauphiné with momentum very much on their side after the Slovene claimed his second consecutive stage win at the Tour de l’Ain, his success on the Grand Colombier confirming him as the overall victor.

Going head to head with main rival Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) in the final 300 metres to the stage finish atop the Grand Colombier, Roglič brushed aside the Colombian’s challenge and eased to victory after his teammates had once again shown their collective strength. Bernal’s second place confirmed him as runner-up on GC, with Nairo Quintana moving up to fill the final place on the podium after finishing third on the day.

Ineos did all they could to make things difficult for Roglič and Jumbo-Visma, Geraint Thomas setting a fast tempo into the foot of the final 17-kilometre ascent, where first Andrey Amador, then Chris Froome, and finally Jonathan Castroviejo took up the pace-making. Yet when Castroviejo pulled aside with seven kilometres to the summit, Bernal found himself with four Jumbo-Visma riders to deal with.

Throughout the final section of the climb, Roglič looked comfortable and full of confidence, gliding up and down the line to size up Bernal. At the same time, the Colombian seemed well short of his best, occasionally losing contact with the yellow jersey group, almost always at the back of the line.

Bernal did launch from the rear of the group in the final kilometre, dispatching everyone but Roglič before the Jumbo-Visma leader swept clear to take a second stage win in three days, having earlier lost out only very narrowly in the opening day sprint finale to Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

“Today was again a hard day. Ineos did a really hard race with a hard tempo on all the climbs, but our team did a great job again, so I was able to just finish it,” said Roglič.

Asked for his thoughts looking ahead to the Dauphiné, which starts on Wednesday, he replied: “Every race is nice to do after this lockdown, so I’m also looking forward to another one.

“My main ambition for the Tour de France is to put myself on as high a level as possible, and to try to grow together with the team and do as good a job as we can. That’s the main goal.”

How it unfolded

The final stage began with a flurry of attacks before a dozen riders managed to break the elastic and get clear of the peloton. The group comprised Romain Seigle and Leo Vincent (Groupama-FDJ), stage one winner Bagioli and his Deceuninck-QuickStep teammate Mauri Vansevenant, mountains leader Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal), Will Barta, Joey Rosskopf and Georg Zimmermann (CCC Team), Mads Schmidt Würtz (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Sunweb’s Sam Oomen and Thymen Arensman.

The stage’s trio of tough climbs were packed into the second half of the stage. On the second of them, the first-category Col de la Biche, Bagioli went away on his own as the bunch started to close in. Bernard joined him towards the summit and the pair crossed it with a 90-second advantage over the Ineos-led peloton.

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas set a cracking pace at the head of the bunch in the valley to the foot of the Grand Colombier, cutting the gap to the two leaders to a minute. At the foot of the final ascent, the Welshman immediately peeled aside and left the pace-making to Costa Rican teammate Amador.

With three of the 17 kilometres of the Grand Colombier covered, Amador led a much-slimmed-down yellow jersey group past Bernard and Bagioli, the two breakaways fist-bumping to acknowledge their collaboration. A kilometre later, Amador swung aside to leave Castroviejo setting the pace.

Froome took over from the Spaniard at the front with 11.5km left, the four-time Tour de France winner doing a long stint at the head of the line, his efforts perhaps helping to keep alive his hopes of starting the Tour later this month. With 9km left, Froome delivered a final burst of speed and handed responsibility for pace-making back to Castroviejo.

Almost immediately, though, the Spaniard had to drop back to pace Bernal, who had slipped off the back of the group together with Steven Kruiswijk. The Ineos domestique led the Colombian back into the group, then briefly returned to the front of the group before letting Jumbo take responsibility for setting the tempo, with Tom Dumoulin in the vanguard.

Seven kilometres from home, Castroviejo too was dropped, leaving Bernal up against four Jumbo riders, as well as Quintana, Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis). Soon after, Roglič dropped back through the group to get a good look at Bernal. Was the Colombian bluffing? In difficulty? Roglič observed him briefly, then breezed back up the line, Bernal following but not as easily.

The finale fireworks finally kicked off three kilometres from the line. Porte attacked, but Jumbo quickly chased him down. Kruiswijk and Dan Martin were dropped in this flurry, and Bernal was briefly too as Jumbo’s George Bennett pushed on hard at the front, his tempo too much for Dumoulin, who also dropped back.

With 1.8km to go, Porte attacked again. Once more Bennett was quick to respond. The Australian went a third time just inside the kilometre arch, and then once more. But Bennett kept returning to the front of the group, maintaining control until Bernal made his move. It was brave, but doomed. Roglič was simply too strong.

Results :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 4:06:24
2 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Ineos 0:00:04
3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:06
4 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:08
5 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:16
6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:23
7 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:31
8 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:44
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:16
10 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:01:58
11 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
12 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Team Ineos 0:02:24
13 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:02:58
14 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:44
15 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:09
16 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:53
17 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale 0:06:39
18 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:07:57
19 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:08:05
20 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
21 Andrey Amador (CRc) Team Ineos 0:08:27
22 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team 0:08:33
23 Matthias Fluckiger (Swi) Switzerland 0:09:19
24 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:47
25 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Cofidis 0:10:51
26 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:10:55
27 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:12:00
28 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:12:16
29 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
30 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Ineos
31 Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Spa) Nippo Delko Provence 0:12:20
32 Márton Dina (Hun) Kometa Xstra 0:12:37
33 Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:12:39
34 Johannes Adamietz (Ger) Germany 0:13:49
35 Miguel Heidemann (Ger) Germany 0:14:10
36 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:14:12
37 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:14:17
38 Simone Petilli (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:14:56
39 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:15:13
40 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:15:32
41 Kevin Vermaerke (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:15:34
42 Sean Quinn (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
43 Jakob Geßner (Ger) Germany
44 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
45 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
46 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates
47 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:15:52
48 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:16:28
49 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates 0:17:25
50 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:18:21
51 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:19:43
52 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
53 Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:20:09
54 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:20:14
55 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:22:02
56 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:22:42
57 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:22:46
58 Jarrad Drizners (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:23:46
59 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R la Mondiale 0:23:48
60 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:23:55
61 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
62 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
63 Thomas Degand (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
64 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Switzerland
65 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
66 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
67 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team
68 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:24:17
69 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:26:02
70 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:26:17
71 Adrien Guillonnet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:26:53
72 Giacomo Garavaglia (Ita) Kometa Xstra 0:28:26
73 Antonio Puppio (Ita) Kometa Xstra
74 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
75 Erik Fetter (Hun) Kometa Xstra
76 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
77 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) Switzerland
78 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
79 James Fouchee (NZl) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:28:45
80 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:29:23
81 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:30:05
82 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:30:53
83 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:31:16
84 Daniel Viegas (Por) Kometa Xstra 0:33:25
85 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:37:12
86 Gilles de Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
87 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
88 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence
89 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
90 Jannis Peter (Ger) Germany
91 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
92 Pedro Andrade (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
93 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:37:19
94 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:37:30
95 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:38:16
96 Lindsay De Vylder (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:38:39
97 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:39:19
98 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:40:02
99 Antoine Aebi (Swi) Switzerland 0:40:25
100 Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNS Rasmus Byriel Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal
DNS Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Team
DNS Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
DNS Ivan Centrone (Lux) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
DNF Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
DNF Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
DNF Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie
DNF Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Ineos
DNF Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep
DNF Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
DNF Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis
DNF Attilio Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
DNF Georg Zimmermann (Ger) CCC Team
DNF Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNF Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Tom Dernies (Bel) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
DNF Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
DNF Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Baptiste Constantin (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Simon Imboden (Swi) Switzerland
DNF Claudio Imhof (Swi) Switzerland
DNF Henrik Pakalski (Ger) Germany
DNF Dominik Röber (Ger) Germany

Final General Classification :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 11:21:12
2 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Ineos 0:00:18
3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:28
4 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:56
5 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:27
6 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:24
7 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:40
8 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:02:45
9 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:03:39
10 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:26
11 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:06:01
12 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:06:46
13 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Team Ineos 0:07:39
14 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale 0:09:16
15 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team 0:09:19
16 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:12:05
17 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:13:59
18 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:14:15
19 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:14:26
20 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:15:07
21 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:15:35
22 Andrey Amador (CRc) Team Ineos 0:16:38
23 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:17:28
24 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:17:33
25 Márton Dina (Hun) Kometa Xstra 0:17:54
26 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:18:04
27 Matthias Fluckiger (Swi) Switzerland 0:18:42
28 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:19:13
29 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:19:15
30 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Cofidis 0:19:17
31 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:19:29
32 Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Spa) Nippo Delko Provence 0:20:46
33 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:20:51
34 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:21:09
35 Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:21:55
36 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:22:43
37 Jakob Geßner (Ger) Germany 0:24:00
38 Kevin Vermaerke (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
39 Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:25:22
40 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:25:59
41 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Ineos 0:26:45
42 Miguel Heidemann (Ger) Germany 0:26:53
43 Simone Petilli (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:27:39
44 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:28:43
45 Johannes Adamietz (Ger) Germany 0:30:41
46 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R la Mondiale 0:30:57
47 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:31:04
48 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
49 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:31:55
50 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:32:26
51 Erik Fetter (Hun) Kometa Xstra 0:33:43
52 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:34:05
53 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:34:20
54 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:34:43
55 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:34:58
56 Sean Quinn (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
57 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates 0:35:02
58 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:35:25
59 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:36:37
60 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:36:38
61 Giacomo Garavaglia (Ita) Kometa Xstra 0:36:52
62 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:39:03
63 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:39:07
64 Adrien Guillonnet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:39:36
65 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:39:49
66 Jarrad Drizners (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:40:07
67 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Switzerland 0:40:16
68 Thomas Degand (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
69 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:41:13
70 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:41:54
71 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:43:19
72 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team 0:44:59
73 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:45:05
74 James Fouchee (NZl) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:45:53
75 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:47:50
76 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) Switzerland 0:48:56
77 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ 0:49:30
78 Antonio Puppio (Ita) Kometa Xstra 0:49:36
79 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence 0:49:55
80 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:49:57
81 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:50:14
82 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:51:14
83 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:53:33
84 Daniel Viegas (Por) Kometa Xstra 0:54:05
85 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:56:47
86 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:58:16
87 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:58:43
88 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:59:09
89 Pedro Andrade (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:59:13
90 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 1:01:33
91 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 1:04:58
92 Jannis Peter (Ger) Germany 1:06:15
93 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Nippo Delko Provence 1:06:19
94 Lindsay De Vylder (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 1:06:40
95 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 1:07:35
96 Gilles de Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
97 Antoine Aebi (Swi) Switzerland 1:10:29
98 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 1:12:36
99 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team Sunweb 1:12:55
100 Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 1:32:26