Ayuso channels his frustrations into an impressive solo á la Pogacar in Faun Drome Classic

Juan Ayuso won the Faun Drome Classic with an impressive performance. The Spaniard from UAE Team Emirates-XRG has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent months, including his withdrawal from the Tour, not being selected for the Vuelta, and transfer issues. On Saturday, he missed out on victory in the Faun-Ardèche Classic by riding the wrong way. He shook off all his frustrations a day later by staying ahead of the rest with an impressive solo.

The Faun Drome Classic was part two of a French diptych following the Faun-Ardèche Classic on Saturday. Romain Grégoire won that one after a remarkable final kilometer. Winning twice in one weekend? The young Frenchman from Groupama-FDJ still had to complete a grueling 190-kilometer course successfully.

As always in French one-day races, the battle for the leading group was fierce. With a few short climbs in the opening hour, half the peloton wanted to be included, but eight were actually given free rein. Sjoerd Bax and teammates Xabier Mikel Azparren and Walter Calzoni were among them. That meant Q36.5 had three men in the lead. After fifty kilometers, they had a three-minute lead.

Read more below the photo.

Sjoerd Bax

Skjelmose launches attack Ayuso

With Israel-Premier Tech and Tudor controlling the peloton, we crossed the finish line for the first time with 144 kilometers to go, and for a long time, things remained unchanged. The leading group even increased the lead to 4.30 minutes. Bax and Calzoni were leading for Q36.5, with Baptiste Poulard (Arkéa), Matisse Julien (CIC-U-Nantes), Jonas Gregaard (Lotto), and Kenny Molly (Van Rysel Roubaix) also upfront.

So we headed for the final, where Lidl-Trek took the lead for Skjelmose. At this point, the peloton, including Marco Brenner (Tudor) and Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), suffered a massive crash. There was no time to wait because Skjelmose began the climb 41 kilometers from the finish, heading for the foot of the Col de la Grande Limite.

The Dane probably had some group selection in mind, but he countered a UAE Team Emirates attack led by Ayuso. When Skjelmose was caught, the Spaniard accelerated incredibly fast, and no one reacted. Skjelmose could not stay with him and went back toward the Côte des Roberts, but with 30 kilometers to go, he was already half a minute behind.

Ayuso beats Skjelmose, Tulett third

On the Côte des Roberts, Ayuso strengthened his lead on Skjelmose, which was chased by Christian Scaroni (Astana) and Ben Healy (EF) duo. There were also attacks from the peloton, but Ayuso had already built up a lead of more than a minute on them. In other words, they were too late. With 10 kilometers to go, Skjelmose came up to within 22 seconds, but Ayuso held him off and with him the rest of the peloton.

The finish line was at the top of the Côte Chaude, and the Spanish leader of UAE completed the masterpiece in style. Skjelmose crossed the finish line 23 seconds later. In the peloton, Ben Tulett, on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike, pushed to third place ahead of Marc Hirschi (Tudor) and Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek).

Results Faun Drome Classic 2025

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