Tour de l'Ain: Storer wins stage 3 and overall title

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Michael Storer (Team DSM) won the final stage and the overall at the Tour de l’Ain after a bold attack on the final stage of the race to Lelex Mon-Jura.

The Australian struck out on the penultimate climb of the Col des Menthières with 23km to go and managed to build up a lead of around 30 seconds on a small chase group. He maintained an advantage all the way to the line to win ahead of Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek-Segafredo).

Overnight leader and stage 2 winner Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux was dropped on the Col des Menthières and was unable to rejoin the leading group over the undulating finale. For Storer, 24, it was the biggest win of his career so far.

The Australian put in a consummate performance, maintaining a healthy lead over the long Col des Menthières and then holding off the second group on the road over the technical descent. With around 10km to go, Storer’s gap sat at just over 30 seconds but and despite a late chase from his rivals the rider from Perth held on for both the stage win and the overall victory.

Earlier in the stage a group of around 20 riders had gone clear but they were caught and then replaced at the front of the race by a group that contained Nans Peters (AG2R Citroën Team), Victor Lafay (Cofidis), Simon Guglielmi (Groupama-FDJ), Dmitry Strakhov (Gazprom), Alan Boileau (B&B Hotels p/b KTM), Thibault Guernalec (Team Arkea-Samsic), and Carmelo Urbano (Caja Rural).

On the Côte de Giron – a 3.7km ascent with an average gradient of over 6 per cent - the group began to split and with 41km to go the leaders had just 34 seconds over a vastly reduced peloton controlled by Trek-Segafredo.

On the lower slopes of the Col des Menthières it was Guglielmi who attacked first as Quinn Simmons set the pace for the main field. After a brief reshuffle on the climb Lafay was joined by his teammate Remy Rochas but the pair were unable to create more than a slender advantage.

With 26km to go and plenty of the ascent still to race the break was brought back with Lotto Soudal on the front. A kilometer later and Zimmermann was dropped with Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) stretching clear with Storer, Matteo Badilatti (Groupama-FDJ), Clément Champoussin (AG2R Citroën Team), Bagioli and Skjelmose Jensen.

Two kilometers later and Storer seized his moment, before cresting the top of the climb with a 20-second lead. From there he never looked in trouble before going on to take DSM’s first win since Paris-Nice.