Tour de l‘Ain 2021 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

July 29, 2021

Tour de l‘Ain 2021 – Stage 1 – Parc des Oiseaux – Bourg-en-Bresse : 141 km

For young, up-and-coming French riders the Tour de l’Ain is one of the most important races on the pro cycling calendar and a big chance to attract the interest of WorldTour talent scouts. The multi-day race was first held back in 1970 under an old and now defunct name, the Prix de l’Amitié. In 1989 a committee of new organisers came in and changed the name to the more familiar Tour de l’Ain. They also took the race to a new region, swapping southeast France and the French Alps for the Jura Mountains and the Ain departement in east-central France. Since the establishment of the UCI ProTour back in 2005, the Tour de l’Ain has been ranked as a 2.1 event, making it one of the biggest French stage races outside of the Tour de France, Paris-Nice and Critérium du Dauphiné. Up until 2018, the race regularly ran for five stages, with a short opening prologue followed by four punchy road stages. Now there’s just three stages for the riders to compete over, two of which are often held in the heart of the Jura Mountains. The climbs in the Jura Mountains may not be quite as well known as those in the French Alps, but that doesn’t make them any less tough. Climbs like the Col du Grand Colombier, Col de la Faucille, Col du Berthiand and Col de Menthières have all featured on this race in the past two years and each one has helped to catalyse a significant GC battle.

Alvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won stage 1 of the Tour de l’Ain, beating Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) and Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels) in a bunch sprint in Bourg-en-Bresse.

Deceuninck-QuickStep were prominent in the final kilometres of the stage and they provided a pitch-perfect lead-out for Hodeg, who finished off their work with a confident sprint.

Hodeg hit the front inside the final 200 metres and neither Bouannni nor Coquard could get back on terms with the Colombian, who claimed his first victory since he won the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro in October 2019.

“I think when I can do my sprint, I can be one of the best,” Hodeg said afterwards. “Today was perfect. The guys left me in the best position. I just started my sprint, and I looked to the finish and I’m so happy.”

The 141km opening stage from Parc des Oiseaux to Bourg-en-Bresse was animated by a three-man break featuring Antoine Duchesne (Groupama-FDJ), Jose Etxeberria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Alexander Tarlton (Germany).

On a day of pleasant sunshine, the three leaders built up a maximum lead of 3:20 over the peloton, but with Bouhanni, Coquard and Hodeg all primed for a sprint, the break was never likely to go the distance.

Duchesne and Tarlton distanced Etxeberria in the final 30km but they were unable to fend off the peloton, where Arkéa-Samsic were to the fore in leading the pursuit. They carried a lead of 55 seconds into the final 20km and they were finally brought back with a shade over 10km remaining.

Deceuninck-QuickStep took over on the approach to the finish, and their efforts helped to tee Hodeg up for the 13th victory of his professional career and his first in almost two years.

Hodeg carries the race lead into stage 2 and thanks to the stage winner’s time bonus, he has an advantage of 4 seconds on Bouhanni, 6 on Coquard and 10 on the rest of the peloton.

The Tour de l’Ain hits more rugged terrain on stage 2 from Lagnieu to Saint-Vulbas but Saturday’s final stage is likely to prove decisive, with the tough Col de Menthières featuring en route to the finish at Lélex Monts-Jura.

Results :
1 Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep 3:04:57
2 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:00
3 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:00
4 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) TotalEnergies 0:00:00
5 Jason Tesson (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:00:00
6 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:00
7 Florian Vermeersch (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:00
8 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:00
9 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:00
10 Dries de Bondt (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:00
11 Dylan Kowalski (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:00
12 Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:00
13 Jean-pierre Drucker (Lux) Cofidis 0:00:00
14 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:00
15 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:00
16 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:00
17 Gianmarco Garofoli (Ita) Team DSM 0:00:00
18 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:00:00
19 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:00
20 Mattias Jensen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:00
21 Marco Brenner (Ger) Team DSM 0:00:00
22 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:00
23 Sergei Chernetskii (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:00
24 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:00
25 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:00
26 Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:00
27 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:00
28 Clément Jolibert (Fra) France 0:00:00
29 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:00
30 Olivier le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:00
31 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:00:00
32 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:00
33 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:00
34 Fabien Doubey (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:00
35 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:00
36 Floris de Tier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:00
37 Quinn Simmons (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:00
38 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:00
39 Edward Ravasi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:00
40 Erik Fetter (Hun) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:00
41 Georg Steinhauser (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:00
42 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:00
43 Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Spa) Delko 0:00:00
44 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:00
45 Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko 0:00:00
46 Jhojan Orlando Garcia Sosa (Col) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:00:00
47 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:00
48 Sebastian Schonberger (Aut) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:00
49 Alan Boileau (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:00
50 Maxime Urruty (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:00
51 Mathias de Witte (Bel) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:00
52 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:00
53 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:00
54 Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:00
55 Sylvain Moniquet (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:00
56 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:00
57 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:00
58 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:00
59 Sergio Roman Martin Galan (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:00:00
60 Nikolay Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:00
61 Maxime Chevalier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:00
62 Sean Quinn (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:00
63 Jakob Geßner (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:00
64 Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:00
65 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:00
66 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:00
67 Vergaerde Otto (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:00
68 Felix Gall (Aut) Team DSM 0:00:00
69 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:00
70 Florent Castellarnau (Fra) France 0:00:00
71 Stijn Steels (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:00
72 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:00:00
73 Lucas de Rossi (Fra) Delko 0:00:00
74 Eddy Fine (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:00
75 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:00
76 Henri Vandenabeele (Bel) Team DSM 0:00:00
77 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:00
78 Stefan Bennett (Fra) France 0:00:00
79 Mark Christian (GBr) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:00
80 Lubomír Petrus (Cze) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:00
81 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:00
82 Jannis Peter (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:00
83 Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:00
84 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:00
85 Louis Richard (Fra) France 0:00:00
86 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:00
87 Matthew Riccitello (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:00
88 Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:00
89 Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:00
90 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:00
91 Pedro Andrade (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:00
92 Thomas Champion (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:00
93 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:00
94 Sergio Garcia Gonzalez (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:00
95 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:00
96 Dominik Rober (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:00
97 Michael Storer (Aus) Team DSM 0:00:00
98 Emile Brenans (Fra) France 0:00:00
99 Alexandar Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:00
100 Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:00:00
101 Alvaro Cuadros Morata (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:00:00
102 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:00
103 Cristian Scaroni (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:00
104 Clément Didier (Fra) France 0:00:00
105 Diogo Barbosa (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:45
106 Samuel Janisch (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:45
107 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:48
108 Jonas van Genechten (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:53
109 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:55
110 Mattia Frapporti (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:01:02
111 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Delko 0:01:02
112 Florian Stork (Ger) Team DSM 0:01:02
113 Carmelo Urbano Fontiveros (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:01:46
114 Ivan Centrone (Lux) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:01:58
115 Alexander Tarlton (Ger) Germany U23 0:02:12
116 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:02:36
117 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:02:36
118 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:36
119 Morné van Niekerk (RSA) St Michel-Auber 93 0:03:07
120 Romain Cardis (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:03:07
121 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:05:08
122 Josu Etxeberria Azpilikueta (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:07:49
123 Ian Garrison (USA) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:08:19

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep 3:04:47
2 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:04
3 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:06
4 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) TotalEnergies 0:00:10
5 Jason Tesson (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:00:10
6 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:10
7 Florian Vermeersch (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:10
8 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:10
9 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:10
10 Dries de Bondt (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:10
11 Dylan Kowalski (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:10
12 Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:10
13 Jean-pierre Drucker (Lux) Cofidis 0:00:10
14 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:10
15 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:10
16 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:10
17 Gianmarco Garofoli (Ita) Team DSM 0:00:10
18 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:00:10
19 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:10
20 Mattias Jensen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
21 Marco Brenner (Ger) Team DSM 0:00:10
22 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
23 Sergei Chernetskii (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:10
24 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:10
25 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:10
26 Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:10
27 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:10
28 Clément Jolibert (Fra) France 0:00:10
29 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:10
30 Olivier le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:10
31 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:00:10
32 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:10
33 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:10
34 Fabien Doubey (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:10
35 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:10
36 Floris de Tier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:10
37 Quinn Simmons (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
38 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:10
39 Edward Ravasi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:10
40 Erik Fetter (Hun) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:10
41 Georg Steinhauser (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:10
42 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:10
43 Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Spa) Delko 0:00:10
44 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:10
45 Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko 0:00:10
46 Jhojan Orlando Garcia Sosa (Col) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:00:10
47 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:10
48 Sebastian Schonberger (Aut) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:10
49 Alan Boileau (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:10
50 Maxime Urruty (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:10
51 Mathias de Witte (Bel) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:10
52 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:10
53 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:10
54 Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
55 Sylvain Moniquet (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:10
56 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:10
57 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:10
58 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:10
59 Sergio Roman Martin Galan (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:00:10
60 Nikolay Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:10
61 Maxime Chevalier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:10
62 Sean Quinn (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:10
63 Jakob Geßner (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:10
64 Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:00:10
65 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:10
66 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:10
67 Vergaerde Otto (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:10
68 Felix Gall (Aut) Team DSM 0:00:10
69 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:10
70 Florent Castellarnau (Fra) France 0:00:10
71 Stijn Steels (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:10
72 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:00:10
73 Lucas de Rossi (Fra) Delko 0:00:10
74 Eddy Fine (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:10
75 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
76 Henri Vandenabeele (Bel) Team DSM 0:00:10
77 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:10
78 Stefan Bennett (Fra) France 0:00:10
79 Mark Christian (GBr) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:10
80 Lubomír Petrus (Cze) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:10
81 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:10
82 Jannis Peter (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:10
83 Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:10
84 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:10
85 Louis Richard (Fra) France 0:00:10
86 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:10
87 Matthew Riccitello (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:10
88 Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:10
89 Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:10
90 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:10
91 Pedro Andrade (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:10
92 Thomas Champion (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:10
93 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:10
94 Sergio Garcia Gonzalez (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:10
95 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:10
96 Dominik Rober (Ger) Germany U23 0:00:10
97 Michael Storer (Aus) Team DSM 0:00:10
98 Emile Brenans (Fra) France 0:00:10
99 Alexandar Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:10
100 Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:00:10
101 Alvaro Cuadros Morata (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:00:10
102 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:10
103 Cristian Scaroni (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:10
104 Clément Didier (Fra) France 0:00:10
105 Diogo Barbosa (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:55
106 Samuel Janisch (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:55
107 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:58
108 Jonas van Genechten (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:01:03
109 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:05
110 Mattia Frapporti (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:01:12
111 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Delko 0:01:12
112 Florian Stork (Ger) Team DSM 0:01:12
113 Carmelo Urbano Fontiveros (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:01:56
114 Ivan Centrone (Lux) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:02:08
115 Alexander Tarlton (Ger) Germany U23 0:02:22
116 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:02:46
117 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:02:46
118 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:46
119 Morné van Niekerk (RSA) St Michel-Auber 93 0:03:17
120 Romain Cardis (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:03:17
121 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:05:18
122 Josu Etxeberria Azpilikueta (Spa) Caja Rural-seguros RGA 0:07:59
123 Ian Garrison (USA) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:08:29