Fuglsang and Woods give Israel-Premier Tech crucial one-two at the Mercan ‘Tour Classic
Eleventh is Chris Froome's best performance since 2019 crash
On Tuesday Jakob Fuglsang and Michael Woods gave Israel-Premier Tech some crucial UCI points as they took the one-two in the UCI 1.1-rated one-day Mercan’Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes in France. It was Woods’ first race in 29 days; his last competition was the Tour de Romandie, where he placed 17th. Finishing in eleventh place, Chris Froome had his best result since his crash in the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné.
The Course
The 167-km route was climb-heavy in its second half, with Cat. 1 La Colmiane first on the menu before HC-rated Col de la Couillole and finally the Cat. 1 ascent to the ski area of the Col de Valberg, 12.4 km of 7.2 percent.
?? #MercantourClassic ??
We're underway for @MTClassic06 in France, which includes lots of climbing with a summit finish on the Col de Valberg.
?♂️Puget-Theniers ➡️Col de Valberg
?168 km
?Finish between 15h33 – 16h07 pic.twitter.com/SUm8ARpUId— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) May 31, 2022
Israel-Premier Tech and Groupama-FDJ whittled down the numbers and worked to bring back the breakaway on La Colmiane. Antoine Duchesne toiled for Groupama’s Thibaut Pinot and David Gaudu, and Israel-Premier Tech had Hugo Houle and James Piccoli on point for Fuglsang and Woods.
Next : la Couillole.
Antoine Duchesne aux commandes du peloton. pic.twitter.com/0HWlrmaPoj
— Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ (@GroupamaFDJ) May 31, 2022
The remnants of the breakaway were sopped up with 4 km to climb on the Couillole. Young Lenny Martinez continued to set the pace for Groupama. Woods was still in the shrinking group with teammates Fuglsang and Chris Froome.
Only 14 riders tipped over the top of the Couillole, which then continued on to take a nibble of the Valberg climb.
Only 1⃣4⃣ riders left in the peloton after the second climb of the day at #MercanTourClassic and guess who's still there? ?
That's right, ?? Chris Froome. Good to see Froomey is doing better again! pic.twitter.com/5WLivdMcZS
— Domestique (@Domestique___) May 31, 2022
The 14 stayed intact on the long downhill before the Valberg. Pinot was the first to go from the group as it started to climb after he put in a good pull. Froome soon joined him.
With 6.8 km remaining, Woods and Fuglsang started to attack. Fuglsang went clear and Woods sat on Gaudu’s wheel while the Frenchman chased. The Dane’s advantage continued to grow and he won by just over half a minute.
“Rusty” easily outsprinted the Frenchman for the runner-up spot.
After the finish, Woods said, “I don’t think we could have played it better. Good Tour prep for us, for sure.”
2022 Mercan ‘Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes
1) Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark/Israel-Premier Tech) 4:50:34
2) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:31
3) David Gaudu (France/Groupama-FDJ) +0:34
