Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) wins the first stage of the Tour de l’Ain in the sprint

There will have been action until the finish line, Tuesday, on the first stage of the Tour de l’Ain. Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) won in a gut sprint ahead of Romain Cardis (Saint-Michel – Auber 93), at Val-Revermont. Stan van Tricht (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) completes the podium. Out at the kilometer, his teammate Rémi Cavagna believed in it for a long time, before being caught just a few meters from the finish.

For once, Julian Alaphilippe, his comrade in the “Wolfpack”, was very active at the front of the peloton to its recovery. The reigning double world champion initiated a first attack 10.5 km from the finish, accelerating just before the top of the Plain Champ hill (1.5 km at 5%) after a lot of work from his Belgian teammate Dries Devenyns. Enough to wring out the peloton and eject a few riders, without however succeeding in making the difference for victory.

The day’s stage proved to be particularly eventful and disjointed since the breakaway attempts multiplied in the last 25 kilometers, once Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) took over. The Swiss time trial specialist rode up front for a long time with Belgian Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) and young Mattis Lebeau (Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur), but continued his effort alone at 40 kilometers of the term. In vain. The successive attempts of many leaders at the end of the stage (Nicolas Debeaumarche [Saint-Michel – Auber 93]Anthony Delaplace [Arkéa-Samsic] or Elie Gesbert [Arkéa-Samsic]) will also have participated in this unbridled scenario.