Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) won the final stage of Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche with a solo charge and claimed the overall title of the six-day stage race.
The Italian made up a 30-second deficit in the GC to Femke De Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) and vaulted past the Dutch rider, who was fourth on the stage, to take a cushion of 35 seconds in the overall. It was her first victory of the season, using familiar ground where she was third in the GC last year.
Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) took second place on stage 6 ahead of Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) in the two-rider sprint at the line, Squiban securing third overall.
“This week I’ve been feeling better every single day. I knew this stage suited me perfectly, I set my pace right from the start of the climb without looking back. I found Ruby [Roseman-Gannon], who was in the day’s breakaway, and besides giving me a chance to catch my breath, she gave me such a boost of morale. Shortly after, I was alone and did a time trial all the way to the finish," Trinca Colonel said in a team statement.
"This victory means so much. It’s the first one with this team, and it came after a difficult period on the bike. I’ve always dreamed of raising my arms exactly like this."
The second mountain day to conclude the race destroyed the peloton, with riders spread across the final climb, the category 1 Côte du Baron (6km at 8.4%), with 23.5km remaining into Privas on the 100-kilometre contest.
The stage race included only five of the six stages, as the second day was cancelled due to protests on Wednesday, which would have been an additional 113.7km.
Trinca Colonel made her big move into the GC top 10 with fourth in the stage 4 individual time trial. The 26-year-old then put on a climbing display to finish seconds behind Visma-Lease a Bike duo De Vries and Marion Bunel on the queen stage, and save enough in the tank for a second day of climbing to win stage 6, the mountains classification and the overall.
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