The best riders from the second stage of the Tour de l’Ain were pretty much the same on Friday’s third and final stage. The Groupama-FDJ cycling team was therefore unable to play a leading role on the steep slopes of the Grand Colombier, despite Lorenzo Germani’s initial breakaway. The Italian rider eventually finished nineteenth on the stage and eighteenth overall.
Although the queen stage of the 2025 Tour de l’Ain “only” tallied 3,000 metres of elevation gain and 130 kilometers on Friday, it included two major climbs around the halfway point, the Col de la Biche (6 km at 9.2%) and, more importantly, the Col du Grand Colombier (15.3 km at 7.8%). Not in the mix on Thursday towards Lélex Monts-Jura, Groupama-FDJ had no choice but to hit the front if they wanted to get something out of this demanding course. Lorenzo Germani did that perfectly in what was an eventful start to the race, which saw him join a breakaway of around ten men, including the yellow jersey rider, Nicolas Prodhomme. “We tried to anticipate in order to get over the two big climbs with a bit of a head start, but it turned out that Visma-Lease a Bike decided to make things hard at the foot of the Col de la Biche, so the gap wasn’t enough,” explained Yvon Caër. Due to the presence of the race leader at the front, the breakaway group never had a lead of more than a minute and a half, and it was therefore caught on the penultimate climb of the day.
“We weren’t in a position to have an impact,” Yvon Caër
Lorenzo Germani then joined a chasing group until the bottom of the Grand Colombier, where the first group of seven riders exploded following Visma-Lease’s hard pace and Cian Uijtdebroeks’ attack with almost fifty kilometres to go. The young Belgian concluded his solo effort victoriously, while the Italian rider from Groupama-FDJ crossed the line seventeen minutes later in nineteenth place. “The others did what they could, but honestly, we weren’t in a position to have an impact and be in the game on these hard stages,” commented Yvon. “We obviously expected better in the mountains, we’re disappointed, but that’s also high-level sport. We have to accept this poor performance, analyse it, and look ahead. What we will remember from this Tour de l’Ain is the wonderful first stage, with Tom’s victory and the great collective work that we saw that day.”
