Young Spanish rider Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost) successfully defended his yellow jersey on stage 3 of the Tour de l'Ain to claim the overall title in France, his first stage race victory as a professional.
EF tried to cap off a perfect three days of racing by winning the final stage with Jefferson Alexander Cepeda, who attacked away from a group of nine 2km from the finish in Lélex Monts-Jura after a brutal day of climb.
But he was chased down well by Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) with 300 metres to go, only to be overhauled three riders in sight of the line, with Axel Mariault (CIC Pro Cycling Academy) coming through to take a maiden professional win at 28.
Beloki was second on the final day after sprinting well, but not enough to beat Mariault, who denied EF the clean sweep, with another Frenchman, Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ United) taking third on Thursday.
Seven categorised climbs lined the tough route in Jura mountains, but despite several waves of attacks from all angles, Beloki was never in too much trouble, covering all moves over the crucial final categorised ascent, the Col de Menthières mostly on his own and with Cepeda to help.
In the end, he won by a big margin thanks to his solo stage win to Lagnieu on stage 2, beating Mariault by 52 seconds and Meehan by 55 seconds to the yellow jersey.
"We knew that today was going to be a very hard day for us. Yesterday we lost one rider, so we were just with five guys and we knew it was going to be a hard stage for us; short and super intense, but we could control everything and I'm happy to take the GC,"
"I hope," said the 21 year old when told the Tour de l'Ain winner goes on to win a lot of races. "That's why I'm working every day to perform better, and we will see how the future develops. In a few days I will be in the Vuelta a Burgos, that's the next race I'll do."
Results
Position |
Rider (Country) Team |
Time Gap |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Axel Mariault (Fra) CIC Pro Cycling Academy |
3:26:32 |
2 |
Markel Beloki Fernandez (Spa) EF Education-EasyPost |
|
3 |
Brieuc Rolland (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United |
|
4 |
Jamie Meehan (Irl) Cofidis |
|
5 |
Rémi Arsac (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM Development Team |
|
6 |
Nicola Conci (Ita) XDS Astana |
|
7 |
Henrique Ribeiro Bravo (Bra) Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team |
|
8 |
Huw Buck Jones (GBr) Bourg En Bresse Ain Cyclisme |
0:00:05 |
9 |
Alexander Jefferson Cepeda (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost |
|
10 |
Thomas Gachignard (Fra) Totalenergies |
0:00:57 |
Final classification
Position |
Rider (Country) Team |
Time Gap |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Markel Beloki Fernandez (Spa) EF Education-EasyPost |
10:46:15 |
2 |
Axel Mariault (Fra) CIC Pro Cycling Academy |
0:00:52 |
3 |
Jamie Meehan (Irl) Cofidis |
0:00:55 |
4 |
Henrique Ribeiro Bravo (Bra) Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team |
|
5 |
Rémi Arsac (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM Development Team |
|
6 |
Nicola Conci (Ita) XDS Astana |
|
7 |
Alexander Jefferson Cepeda (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost |
0:01:00 |
8 |
Huw Buck Jones (GBr) Bourg En Bresse Ain Cyclisme |
|
9 |
Adam Howell (GBr) Bourg En Bresse Ain Cyclisme |
0:02:17 |
10 |
Jose Said Cisneros Diaz De Leon (Mex) Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team |
0:02:19 |
