After three days of intense battle, the 2025 edition of the Ain Tour made his verdict this Friday, with the victory of Cian Uijtdebroeks. At the offensive in recent days, the Belgian of the Visma | Lease a Bike Had so far not succeeded at a distance Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R), but the Frenchman ended up falling after multiple offensives launched by Uijtdebroeks In the Grand Colombier! Author of a solo raid of more than 50 kilometers, the Belgian wins the 3rd stage and the general classification! A real rebirth for him, after a season and a half of galleys … and he won his first two victories there for professionals!
VIDEO – The summary of this 3rd stage of the Ain Tour
The summary
A group of 8 runners stands out in the first kilometers, but the peloton, led by the Visma | Lease a Bike leaves only a very small margin in advance. And it is in the Col de la Biche (6km at 9.2%) that the race is decancing. The Dutch team takes up the fugitives and explodes the peloton, since we only find 7 runners at the top: Cian Uijtdebroeks, Ben, Jorgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Nicolas Prodhomme, Geoffrey Bouchard (Decathlon AG2R), Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis) and Louis Rouland (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
After a descent and a little valley, the runners arrive at the foot of the terrible Col du Grand Colombier (15.3km at 7.8%), a major difficulty of this Ain Tour. From the first kilometers, Ben imposes a huge tempo, alone Uijtdebroeks et Production can follow. The Belgian then goes to the attack, but Production follows. However, Uijtdebroeks Continue to frocing and ends up cracking Production… 51 kilometers from the finish! The Belgian is impressive and hollows very quickly. At the top, the differences are already enormous, since Production Already points to more than 1 minute and the pursuers at 3 minutes. And in the descent and the valley, the latter will only increase. 1, 2, 3 minutes … Uijtdebroeks keeps digging. He was the strongest this Friday and joined the finish line, in Belley, as a winner! His first success with professionals … Immediately followed by a second, since he also won the general classification! Behind, Production Pass the line in 2nd position, at more than 3 minutes, a place which he also takes in the general classification. Further, Ben Tulett settles a group of 4 runners, with Jordan Iat (TotaalEnergies), Louis Rouland et Sylvain Moniquet. The Briton therefore retains his 3rd place in general investment.
