Faun Drôme Classic: Nail-biting uphill sprint sees Romain Grégoire deny Visma-Lease a Bike a much-needed win

Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) made it two French winners in a row for the weekend in the Ardèche, claiming the Faun Drôme Classic in the uphill finish ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) from a 17-kilometre two-rider breakaway.

The chasing group only made contact with the pair in the final 500 metres but could not come around, and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), third in the Ardèche Classic on Saturday, had to settle for the same place on Sunday.

Jorgenson dipped his head in defeat as he crossed the line, missing a win that his Visma team would have relished, given their string of misfortune so far this season.

How it unfolded

The sun came out for the Faun Drôme Classic, a 189-kilometre circuit around Étoile-sur-Rhône. The day's early breakaway included Kenny Molly and Arnaud Tendon (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Sjoerd Bax (Q36.5), Tom Mainguenaud (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur), Valentin Retailleau (TotalEnergies), Javier Ibáñez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Jonas Walton (CIC Academy), who managed to gain over four minutes before gradually being brought back by the peloton.

On the Col de la Grande Limite with 40km to go, their advantage evaporated and while Retailleau put in a last-ditch-effort to stay clear, he was caught and spat out the back of the reduced peloton under the force of Visma-Lease a Bike.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) launched a pre-emptive attack with 38km to go before the summit, and was joined quickly by Matteo Jorgenson and Lenny Martinez.

The move caught out Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who chased for a time before settling into the group now led by UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

The peloton kept the lead trio within 10 seconds on the next climb, the Côte de Grâne and while Jorgenson tried to stay clear on the descent, the breakaway was absorbed by a group of 12 from behind. Jorgenson's teammate Davide Piganzoli made a counter-attack and gained 20 seconds but was caught with 17km to go.

Jorgenson quickly countered and was joined by Romain Grégoire just as another group bridged up to the leaders from behind. As Jorgenson and Grégoire held an 18-second lead, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) leapt clear with Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar) in pursuit, but were caught on the Mur d'Allex with 14km to go.

Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) accelerated just before the top, shattering the first chase. He was pursued by a Visma-Lease a Bike rider who then crashed in a corner on the descent, and set off to try to catch Grégoire and Jorgenson, but they weren't waiting.

The two leaders went into the final 5km with 25 seconds while Cosnefroy was pursued by a larger group 12 seconds further behind. The Frenchman was caught with 3km to go. The chasing peloton then had 10 seconds per kilometre to bring back the two escapees.

In the final kilometre, the duo had less than 10 seconds and began looking around as the chasing peloton led by Martinez made contact with 200 metres to go. Grégoire held on, however, and held off Jorgenson and Martinez to take the win.

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