The Lugny climb, where Célia Gery would go on to win the women’s race later that afternoon, also played a major role in the outcome of the third stage for the men.
It was on this tough climb that the French team attempted a spectacular coup with three riders in the tricolor jersey launching a counterattack, and not just any riders, but Antoine L’Hote, Victor Loulergue, and Paul Seixas! The three Frenchmen first caught up with the first breakaway but then set the pace for about 20 kilometers before everything returned to normal with the reaction of the Italian, Belgian, and British teams. Meanwhile, Maxime Decomble, still wearing the CIC yellow jersey, was able to stay warm, without losing sight of the fact that the French team has a natural leader in Paul Seixas, and personally enjoying living day by day in yellow, with the bonus…
Nevertheless, the performance of the day went to Denmark’s Carl-Frederik Bevort, who was already part of the first breakaway and was still in contention when a new group of attackers emerged from the peloton just under 50 miles from the finish. With 30 kilometers to go, he decided to continue alone, confident in his ability to ride fast, as evidenced by his two world team pursuit titles. With more than two minutes on the peloton with 20 km to go, Carl-Frédéric Bévort, 21, a member of the Uno-X professional team, maintained his lead until the finish line, which he crossed 12 seconds ahead of the peloton led by Britain’s Noah Hobbs, winner at Saint-Galmier and logical Biofioul green jersey winner.
The overall classification remains virtually unchanged, with Paul Seixas and Italy’s Mark-Lorenzo Finn, 15th and 16th respectively, still the best placed, 2’2” behind the survivors of the breakaway that had put Maxime Decomble in the yellow jersey on stage 2.
The fourth stage takes the riders from Montagnat (Ain) to Val-Suran (Jura), ending with two laps of a 17-kilometer circuit in the Jura valleys.
