Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) claimed her second victory in two days in France, winning the Grand Prix Féminin de Chambéry just 48 hours after a big win in Brabantse Pijl.
The punchy race around Chambéry was a whittling-down operation for FDJ, with a heavily reduced group arriving at the final, but Gery launched early and used her clearly great form to grab another win.
Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) finished second, eight seconds down on the winner, whilst Lore De Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal) took third.
To some, it was a surprise that Brabantse Pijl winner Gery was in action in France on Sunday rather than continuing with the Ardennes at Amstel Gold Race, but this victory seems to answer that question.
Sunday's race took in 10 laps around Chambéry, with the latter six laps featuring three key climbs – the Chemin des Sablières, Sonnaz and Voglans – for 1,800m of climbing across 120km.
The pace was high from the start, largely pushed by FDJ United-Suez, which meant there wasn't an early breakaway but a series of attacks and splits which repeatedly whittled down the peloton. With still 70km to go, the main bunch was down to around 30 riders and shrinking.
Marie Le Net (FDJ United-Suez) went on the attack with 45km to go, and quickly drew out a 25-second gap, but was brought back nearly as quickly, and went straight out the back when she was caught. This left only around 15 riders in the bunch and they went into the final 25km all together.
FDJ kept pushing the pace in the finale, splitting the group apart, and around 10 riders came into the final kilometres in splinters. Gery took advantage of her team's work to take a late flyer and sail to the win, well ahead of the next riders.
Results
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