European champion Henrik Pedersen from Denmark won both the stage and the CIC yellow jersey.
It was breakaway day on the Tour de l’Avenir this Monday on the roads of Lorraine, finishing in the foothills of the Vosges. And the longest stage of the week (191.6km) between Sarrebourg (Moselle Sud) and Ronchamp-Champagney (Haute-Saône), not far from the famous Planche des Belles filles and on Thibaut Pinot’s home turf, didn’t deter the famous attack at or near kilometre zero (km 5).
The feat, and it was a feat, was to succeed in this audacious undertaking at an average speed of 45.8 km/h at the end of a very busy day. It’s true that the first attackers all had a good pedigree, with Danish rider Henrik Pedersen, European champion, Slovenian rider Gal Glivar, already well established at international level, and Belgian rider Tim Rex, who is a member of the Intermarché-Wanty development team where his older brother Laurenz has already distinguished himself. However, this trio was soon joined by two ‘locals’ from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes team, Yoan Morin and Baptiste Troja, who stayed with this fast-moving race for a long time before succumbing to the effects of distance and the Col des Croix, the most serious difficulty on a very hilly final.
First bump test
In the end, Dane Henrik Breiner Pedersen proved to be the freshest – and the strongest – to pull off the double coup that gave him the CIC yellow jersey as well as victory in a stage that was quite breathtaking in terms of pace.
The nineteen-year-old new leader belongs to the Uno X development structure and will join the team’s World Tour squad next year.
Stage 2 on Tuesday will take the Tour de l’Avenir hopefuls from Mouchard (Jura) to the plateau d’Hauteville (Ain), which is not a summit finish but is reached in stages over the final 25km. This will provide a first glimpse of the climbing skills of the new Yellow Jersey winner and his rivals.
