Primož Roglič and Jumbo-Visma’s peformance at the Tour de l’Ain sent a message to their rivals: they’re coming for yellow.
The Slovenian beat Egan Bernal (Ineos) on the second successive summit finish, this time on the Grand Colombier, to seal the overall victory at the French race, with Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) third.
That was the result of the final GC podium too, as Jumbo-Visma also took fourth and fifth with Steven Kruijswijk and George Bennett.
On stage three, Tom Dumoulin also put in a good ride to make it four out of six Jumbo-Visma squad riders in the top 10. Chris Froome finished 12 minutes down while his Ineos team-mate Geraint Thomas came in another three and a half minutes later.
The Welshman had been part of Ineos’ attempt to take the race to Jumbo-Visma and give Bernal the best chance of overhauling Roglič, setting a high pace at the bottom of the Grand Colombier, before Froome and the rest of the Ineos squad also took their turn.
This ultimately proved inconsequential and after Ineos had burned all their matches Jumbo-Visma still had four riders in the front group and Egan Bernal now isolated.
Bernal clung on as Roglič looked assured, with the Slovenian easing to the stage victory ahead of the young Colombian.
Ineos wont have to wait long to try and exact revenge, as round two is coming up at next week’s Critérium du Dauphiné.
Results
Tour de l’Ain 2020, stage three: Saint-Vulbas to Grand Colombier (144.5km)
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 4-06-24
2. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos, at four seconds
3. Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkéa-Samsic, at 6s
4. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis, at 8s
5. Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo, at 16s
6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 23s
7. George Bennett (NZl) Jumbo-Visma, at 31s
8. Tum Dumoulin (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 44s
9. Dan Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 1-16
10. João Almeida (Por) Decuninck – Quick-Step, at 1-58
Final general classification
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 11-12-21
2. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos, at 18 seconds
3. Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkéa-Samsic, at 28s
4. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 56s
5. George Bennett (NZl) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-27
6. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 2-24
7. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, at 2-40
8. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis, at 2-45
9. Jesús Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 3-39
10. Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at 4-26
