The opening stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes brought with it a breakthrough solo win for French rider Alex Baudin from the breakaway, while further back in Saint-Ismier, the GC battle was already in aciton on the first of eight days of racing.
32 seconds after the EF Education-EasyPost racer had crossed the line to claim the first yellow jersey of the week, a small group of chasers, including Netcompany Ineos pairing Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin, also finished.
They'd make 12 seconds on the main group of GC favourites after slipping away on the road to the finish following the day's final climb, ending the day with a valuable headstart on the likes of Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), and Paul Seixas.
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Seixas's Decathlon CMA CGM team had paced the peloton for much of the day, but were happy to let the win and yellow go to Baudin, even if the counter-move going clear wasn't part of their plans.
Speaking at the finish, Visma-Lease a Bike leader Jorgenson didn't seem best pleased by the outcome of the day.
"I'm not sure why they stopped," the American told CyclingPro about Decathlon's decision to stop working in the chase.
"10 seconds is 10 seconds. I think that's a nice gain.
"It wasn't really surprising," he said of the attack. "I was there marking Del Toro and Seixas. You can't follow everyone."
Visma had two riders up in the move in the form of Ben Tulett and Bruno Armirail, though neither dropped back to help their leader on the run to the finish.
The short interview concluded with a stone-faced Jorgenson saying, "It was nice. A good day back at the races."
Jorgenson, who switched up his schedule from the Tour de Suisse to the newly renamed French race, is now among a cluster of contenders lying 44 seconds off the lead of Baudin and 12 seconds down on Vauquelin and Onley, who start the race on the front foot.
