The American Brandon McNulty (UAE) won the Ardèche Classic on Saturday, the first part of the Boucles Drôme-Ardèche, ahead of Belgian Mauri Vansevenant (Quick-Step) 2nd, who sprinted ahead of another American, Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) 3rd. This is the second victory in a month, to the day, for McNulty, 23. He won on January 26 in the Trofeo Calvià, in Mallorca, starting alone 50 km from the finish, when he had not raised his arms since the Tour of Sicily 2019. This time- this, the young American from the UAE Emirates team waited until he was 25 km from the finish to set off alone on the climb to Saint-Romain-de-Lerps, without ever looking back, and finishing as the winner after 168.5 km of racing (3,100 m of elevation gain). Julian Alaphilippe finished 25th, 1’44 from the winner, just ahead of Primoz Roglic. The Roman Pierre Latour ranks 22nd.
The second part of these Drôme-Ardèche Loops, Sunday over 191.5 km (2,400 m of elevation gain), will be more typed “punchers” than “climbers” and will end with a big climb in Étoile-sur-Rhône (Drôme).