It was written: the 5th and last stage of the Alpes Isère Tour, with its 8 difficulties, was to reshuffle the cards in the general classification so far dominated by Quentin Jauregui. And indeed the 133 kilometers of course between Les Échelles and Allevard changed the situation. Australian Sebastian Berwick, from the Israel-Premier Tech team, won alone in Allevard-les-Bains, winning the best climber classification at the same time.
The stage lent itself to it since the route notably included the Col du Cucheron, the Col du Granier, the Col de Marcieu on the Chartreuse side, and the Col du Barioz on the Belledonne side. Behind, two other young people were struggling – they were playing the general: the Frenchman Romain Grégoire and the Swiss Yannis Voisard. The latter managed to take 2nd place in the stage, and despite Romain Grégoire’s efforts to climb back up, it was the Swiss who took the lead in the general classification for a handful of seconds – 5 seconds once the bonuses were counted. !
Romain Grégoire, 2nd overall, is only 19 years old
“This is exactly the scenario we had set up!” enthuses the organizer Michel Baup at the end of this final with an uncertain outcome. And once again, the Alpe Isère Tour has fulfilled its mission: “Our common thread is to discover young talents, and this time again we are bringing out young people who I think will be seen in the biggest events. The little (Romain) Grégoire [19 ans!] who finished 2nd overall, I am convinced that we will see him at a very, very high level, including the Tour de France, the little (Yannis) Voisard the same, he is the seed of a champion!
“Reconnect with the party”
This 2022 edition was also marked by the return of the public after a blank year (2020) and an edition partly behind closed doors (2021) due to the Covid-19 epidemic. Michel Baup observed “a very, very good enthusiasm throughout the 5 days with a lot of people along the roads and at the arrivals (…). We felt that everyone wanted to reconnect with the party. We are happy because it It is an achievement for us volunteers to see that we make a lot of people happy and that is a real success.”