After three days of fierce struggle, the Ain Tour Delivered his verdict this Friday: Cian Uijtdebroeks won as a boss. Very offensive since the start of the event, the Belgian of the Visma | Lease a Bike had hitherto stopped on the resistance of Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R). But in the slopes of the Grand Colombier, the Frenchman ended up giving in to a series of repeated attacks. Solo party more than 50 kilometers from the finish, Uijtdebroeks won the 3rd stage and at the same time offered the general classification. A doubly symbolic victory: it marks its rebirth after a season and a half of galleys and constitutes its very first successes among professionals.
VIDEO – The summary of this 3rd stage of the Ain Tour
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“It was up to me to crack Nicolas Prodhomme …”
“In recent months have not been easy. When I came back to competition on the Clasica San Sebastian I was already very happy and to be able to win today is great. It was one of the ambitions of this season to win my first race with professionals, it's a dream”declares Uijtdebroeks on arrival. “It was not an easy day, especially when Prodhomme slipped into a breakaway. But the team did a fantastic job, with Tim Rex and Jorgen Nordhagen who resumed this breakaway. Then Nordhagen made a huge tempo in the Col de la Biche and in the valley. In the Grand Colombier, Ben Tulett launched me and then it was up to me, even if it was not easy. Long climbs are better for me and I am very happy to have been able to do it. “
Before concluding: “The previous days were different, with shorter and less steep climbs. I think that the Nordigan tempo in the penultimate ascent has probably already killed Prodhomme. So I didn't have to do much to make it crack. Even if I started to accelerate from afar, since the more hard, the more it suits me”he concludes.
