2020 Faun Ardèche Classic (1.Pro), France
20th edition: Saturday, February 29, 2020
Faun Ardèche Classic podium history | 2019 edition | 2021 edition | Course map and profile | Start list
Guilherand-Granges - Guilherand-Granges, 184.4 km
Rémi Cavagna wins after a great solo breakaway. Bravo!
Weather at the start/finish city of Guilherand-Granges at 1:50 PM, local time: 13C (56F), cloudy & windy. The wind is from the south at 32 km/hr (20 mph). Showers should hold off until 4:30.
The race: Here's the report from winner Rémi Cavagna's Deceuninck-Quick Step team.
Rémi Cavagna became the seventh different Deceuninck – Quick-Step to notch up a victory this season, after a bold breakaway which saw him attack from the gun, drop his companions with 50 kilometers to go in inclement weather conditions and soldier on all the way to the finish in Valence, where he won by a huge margin of three minutes over the closest chasers.
“Today was chilly and wet, only adding to the difficulty of the race, but I felt good, gave everything and did my own race, and I’m really happy of how things panned out. I love breakaways, it motivates me a lot when I’m at the front, and to take a victory for the Wolfpack so early in the season feeds my confidence”, an elated Rémi said after his sumptuous show of strength on home turf.
Grey clouds and cold temperatures greeted the peloton at the start of Saturday’s Ardèche Classic (184.5km), which soon was battered by the rain, making things even more complicated and whittling down the peloton, several riders deciding to call it a day in the first hour of the race. At that point, Cavagna – who had launched the first attack of the day – was already at the front with four other guys, enjoying a four-minute lead, that at least on paper, looked manageable for the bunch.
As always when going into the break, Rémi had other plans and was determined to not go down without a fight, setting the tempo unfazed by the short but stinging climbs and putting in an awesome amount of effort which helped the five-man group extend their advantage to six minutes midway through the race. Sensing an opportunity was up for grabs, the 24-year-old pushed the pedal to the metal again, only Ben King (NTT Data) being capable of joining him, but not even this pleased the Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider, who threw caution to the wind and went again with 50 kilometers to go, opening up a small gap.
What were ten seconds turned into one minute on Côte de Toulaud, and the advantage kept creeping out over the up-and-down course, while from behind, several riders got out of the saddle, stirring things in the peloton, where cracks began appearing. For his part, Cavagna continued to build time, powering over Saint-Romain-de-Lerps and Val d’Enfer climbs, not even the wet descents being able to slow down the “TGV of Clermont-Ferrand”, who was in beast mood until the finish in Valence, where he was greeted by a big round of applause as he sealed his fourth career victory.
“I know these two races, but to be quite frank, I initially wanted to try something on Sunday, because I thought today would be too hard for me. I attacked on the first climb because I didn’t want to spend the entire race in the bunch with all this rain”, Rémi explained the reasons behind his move. “I felt strong, did my turns and then dropped the others. Once I got a gap, I kept a solid tempo and I remained confident that I was capable of going all the way to the line, especially after my break in La Provence, when I got caught only on the Ventoux. Ok, the final was different here, but still very tough, so to pull it off after such a long breakaway feels great!”
Complete results:
184.4 kilometers raced at an average speed of 35.329 km/hr
| 1 | Rémi Cavagna | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 5hr 13min 10sec |
| 2 | Tanel Kangert | EF Pro Cycling | @ 2min 51sec |
| 3 | Guillaume Martin | Cofidis | 2' 55'' |
| 4 | Warren Barguil | Arkéa-Samsic | 3' 24'' |
| 5 | Nicolas Edet | Cofidis | 4' 35'' |
| 6 | Lorenzo Rota | Vini Zabù-KTM | 5' 07'' |
| 7 | Mikkel Honoré | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 5' 22'' |
| 8 | Benjamin King | NTT Pro Cycling | 5' 36'' |
| 9 | Nans Peters | Ag2r La Mondiale | 5' 38'' |
| 10 | Andrea Bagioli | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 5' 43'' |
| 11 | Lilian Calmejane | Total Direct Energie | 5' 49'' |
| 12 | Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier | NTT Pro Cycling | 5' 53'' |
| 13 | Arjen Livyns | Bingoal-WB | 5' 55'' |
| 14 | Roman Kreuziger | NTT Pro Cycling | s.t. |
| 15 | Dáyer Quintana | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 16 | Aurélien Paret-Peintre | Ag2r La Mondiale | 6' 39'' |
| 17 | Vincenzo Nibali | Trek-Segafredo | 7' 58'' |
| 18 | Gotzon Martín | Fundación-Orbea | 8' 07'' |
| 19 | Arnaud Courteille | B&B Hotels-Vital Concept | 8' 51'' |
| 20 | Simone Petilli | Circus-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 21 | Gonzalo Serrano | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 9' 31'' |
| 22 | Txomin Juaristi | Fundación-Orbea | 9' 46'' |
| 23 | Nathan Brown | Rally Cycling | 10' 51'' |
| 24 | Maxime Bouet | Arkéa-Samsic | 11' 21'' |
| 25 | Kristian Aasvold | Riwal-Readynez | s.t. |
| 26 | Sean Bennett | EF Pro Cycling | s.t. |
| 27 | Emil Vinjebo | Riwal-Readynez | s.t. |
| 28 | Julien Mortier | Bingoal-WB | 11' 43'' |
| 29 | Juan Felipe Osorio | Burgos-BH | 11' 43'' |
| 30 | Edoardo Zardini | Vini Zabù-KTM | 11' 57'' |
| 31 | Anthony Perez | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 32 | Cyril Gautier | B&B Hotels-Vital Concept | 13' 55'' |
| 33 | Fabien Doubey | Circus-Wanty-Gobert | 16' 05'' |
| 34 | Maxime Chevalier | B&B Hotels-Vital Concept | 17' 33'' |
| 35 | James Shaw | Riwal-Readynez | 18' 55'' |
| 36 | Ryan Gibbons | NTT Pro Cycling | 19' 16'' |
| 37 | Carlos Barbero | NTT Pro Cycling | s.t. |
| 38 | Ian Garrison | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 39 | Benoît Cosnefroy | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. |
| 40 | Romain Sicard | Total Direct Energie | s.t. |
| 41 | Maurits Lammertink | Circus-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 42 | Antonio Nibali | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 43 | Sebastian Schönberger | B&B Hotels-Vital Concept | 19' 37'' |
Faun Ardèche Classic map and profile:
Course map
Course profile
Start list with back numbers, February 28, 2020:
| Total Direct Energie | |
| 1 | CALMEJANE Lilian |
| 2 | GAILLARD Marlon |
| 3 | COUSIN Jerome |
| 4 | GRELLIER Fabien |
| 5 | HIVERT Jonathan |
| 6 | SICARD Romain |
| 7 | SIMON Julien |
| Deceunbinck-Quick Step | |
| 11 | ALAPHILIPPE Julian |
| 12 | ALMEIDA João |
| 13 | BAGIOLI Andrea |
| 14 | CAVAGNA Rémi |
| 15 | DEVENYNS Dries |
| 16 | GARRISON Ian |
| 17 | HONORÉ Mikkel |
| Trek-Segafredo | |
| 21 | NIBALI Vincenzo |
| 22 | BERNARD Julien |
| 23 | KAMP EGESTED Alexander |
| 24 | MOLLEMA Bauke |
| 25 | NIBALI Antonio |
| 26 | RIES Michel |
| Groupama-FDJ | |
| 31 | LADAGNOUS Matthieu |
| 32 | VINCENT Leo |
| 33 | FRANKINY Kilian |
| 34 | GUGLIELMI Simon |
| 35 | MADOUAS Valentin |
| 36 | REICHENBACH Sébastien |
| 37 | ROUX Anthony |
| EF Education First | |
| 41 | BENNETT Sean |
| 42 | BETTIOL Alberto |
| 43 | CAICEDO Jonathan |
| 44 | CLARKE Simon |
| 45 | KANGERT Tanel |
| 46 | VILLALOBOS Luis |
| 47 | WHELAN James |
| NTT Pro Cycling | |
| 51 | KREUZIGER Roman |
| 52 | BARBERO Carlos |
| 53 | WERKILUL Amanuel |
| 54 | GIBBONS Ryan |
| 55 | KING Benjamin |
| 56 | MÄDER Gino |
| 57 | SOBRERO Matteo |
| Cofidis | |
| 61 | MARTIN Guillaume |
| 62 | EDET Nicolas |
| 63 | LAFAY Victor |
| 64 | LE TURNIER Mathias |
| 65 | FINÉ Eddy |
| 66 | PEREZ Anthony |
| 67 | PERICHON Pierre-Luc |
| Wallonie-Bruxelles | |
| 71 | HUYS Laurens |
| 72 | LIVYNS Arjen |
| 73 | MOLLY Kenny |
| 74 | MORTIER Julien |
| 75 | PEYSKENS Dimitri |
| 76 | VANENDERT Jelle |
| 77 | WIRTGEN Luc |
| Ag2r La Mondiale | |
| 81 | CHEREL Mickaël |
| 82 | COSNEFROY Benoit |
| 83 | GASTAUER Ben |
| 84 | FRANK Mathias |
| 85 | GENIEZ Alexandre |
| 86 | PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien |
| 87 | PETERS Nans |
| Arkea-Samsic | |
| 91 | BARGUIL Warren |
| 92 | LE ROUX Romain |
| 93 | BOUET Maxime |
| 94 | DELAPLACE Anthony |
| 95 | QUINTANA Dayer |
| 96 | OWSIAN Lukasz |
| 97 | PICHON Laurent |
| Nippo-Delko Provence | |
| 101 | BARBIER Pierre |
| 102 | SISKEVICIUS Evaldas |
| 103 | BEPPU Fumiyuki |
| 104 | MINALI Riccardo |
| 105 | FEDELI Alessandro |
| 106 | NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas |
| 107 | TRARIEUX Julien |
| B&B Hotels-Vital Concept | |
| 111 | CAM Maxime |
| 112 | COURTEILLE Arnaud |
| 113 | GAUTIER Cyril |
| 114 | PACHER Quentin |
| 115 | ROLLAND Pierre |
| 116 | SCHÖNBERGER Sebastian |
| 117 | CHEVALIER Maxime |
| Burgos-BH | |
| 121 | GUERRERO Pablo |
| 122 | MOLENAAR Alex |
| 123 | OSORIO Juan |
| 124 | RUBIO Diego |
| 125 | BOL Jetse |
| 126 | VILELA Ricardo |
| 127 | CANAL Carlos |
| Fundacion-Orbea | |
| 131 | ARISTI Mikel |
| 132 | ANGULO Antonio |
| 133 | IRIZAR Julen |
| 134 | BRAVO Garikoitz |
| 135 | GOIKOETXEA Peio |
| 136 | MARTIN Gotzon |
| 137 | ARANBURU Jokin |
| Rally Cycling | |
| 141 | BASSETT Stephen |
| 142 | BROWN Nathan |
| 143 | DAL-CIN Matteo |
| 144 | ELLSAY Nigel |
| 145 | MAGNER Tyler |
| 146 | ORONTE Emerson |
| 147 | ZUKOWSKY Nick |
| Vini Zabu-KTM | |
| 151 | BEVILACQUA Mattia |
| 152 | BUSATO Matteo |
| 153 | FRAPPORTI Marco |
| 154 | IACCHI Alessandro |
| 155 | ROTA Lorenzo |
| 156 | WACKERMANN Luca |
| 157 | ZARDINI Edoardo |
| Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
| 161 | SERRANO Gonzalo |
| 162 | CUADROS Alvaro |
| 163 | LAZKANO Oier |
| 164 | NICOLAU Joel |
| 165 | CAÑELLAS Xavier |
| 166 | IRISARRI Jon |
| 167 | URBANO Carmelo |
| Circus-Wanty Gobert | |
| 171 | BELLICAUD Jérémy |
| 172 | DEGAND Thomas |
| 173 | DOUBEY Fabien |
| 174 | EIKING Odd Christian |
| 175 | LAMMERTINK Maurits |
| 176 | MEURISSE Xandro |
| 177 | PETILLI Simone |
| Riwal Readynez | |
| 181 | LUNKE Sindre |
| 182 | VINJEBO Emil |
| 183 | AASVOLD Kristian |
| 184 | MAGNUSSON Kim |
| 185 | VEYHE Torkil |
| 186 | SHAW James |
| St Michael-Auber 93 | |
| 191 | BLEIER Baptiste |
| 192 | CONSTANTIN Baptiste |
| 193 | ALAPHILIPPE Bryan |
| 194 | HUREL Tony |
| 195 | MAURELET Flavien |
| 196 | PAILLOT Yoann |
| 197 | VAN NIEKERK Morne |