"It's a relief after my bad day yesterday," reacted the teammate of Primoz Roglic, 33rd Saturday of the Ardèche Classic.

"I'm happy to have won, but also happy with the way I won today. I felt good and it gives me a lot of confidence for the next races."

Aged 25, Vingegaard escaped 25 km from the finish, in the Roberts coast, then made all the necessary efforts, accompanied by the Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE), 19, to resist until at the end of a counter-attack led by Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step).

"I tried everything for everything, I collaborated well with Benoît and Guillaume, but it was really very strong in front", summarized the double French world champion, finally 5th behind Ayuso after having stalled at the foot of the last climb, the Côte Chaude.

"We didn't pretend, but they were stronger," added Alaphilippe, interviewed by the L'Equipe channel.

"It was a very good race and I'm happy to go on other goals, hoping to have better legs," added the leader of Quick-Step, who will be in Italy next week for the Strade Bianche.

Julian Alaphilippe, before the start of the Tour of Lombardy, October 9, 2021, disputed between Como and Bergamo Marco BERTORELLO AFP / Archives

The contested race over 191 km very hilly (2400 of elevation gain in total) was animated, with a first substantial breakaway, by five riders, including three Danes, Mathias Bregnhoj (Riwal), Asbjorn Hellemose (Trek-Segafredo) and Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Pro), a Belgian Johan Meens (Bingoal-Pauwels) and a Frenchman, Axel Mariault (U-Nantes Atlantique), who left about twenty kilometers after the start given in Etoiles-sur-Rhône.

Roglic has completed his winter preparation

70 km from the finish, Meens crashed into the wall of Allex, very steep (16%), immediately joined by Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) who came from behind.

The local hero, from Drôme to the end of the pedals, then managed to join the leading quartet, 60 km from the finish, then to widen a small gap on the peloton.

"It was not planned, Pierre is an instinctive runner, he was frustrated by the day on Saturday", explained his sports director, Lilian Lebreton.

Then Latour was taken over and a new quartet moved in front, with Vingegaard, Ayuso, the Belgian Mauri Vansevenant (Quick-Step), 2nd Saturday of the Ardèche Classic, and another Frenchman, Victor Lafay (Cofidis).

This is where Vingegaard and Ayuso, great hope of Spanish cycling, decided to put a big pedal stroke, in the hill of Roberts, which allowed them to switch in the descent with 53 seconds in advance on the head of the peloton.

Alaphilippe then launched the counter-offensive, there were only about fifteen kilometers left, including a final passage in the Mur d'Allex where Alaphilippe, unleashed, put in a significant thrust, closely followed by Cosnefroy and Martin, and took twenty seconds at once from the Vingegaard-Ayuso duo.

The French trio failed to make the connection.

Alaphilippe stalled, victim of a small cramp at the foot of the Côte Chaude, and Vingegaard let go of Ayuso irretrievably in the last kilometer to take a victory as beautiful as it was deserved.

The other headliner, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, launched his season.

Olympic time trial champion in Tokyo last summer, he leaves with a 26th place on Saturday in Ardèche and a 28th on Sunday in Drôme.

He too fulfilled his mission, rounding off his winter preparation with two fine races.

© 2022 AFP