There is more than one doubleheader to keep tabs on this weekend. 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne may draw the eye as ever, but the twin races of the Boucles Drôme Ardèche have again drawn two of the best fields of the early season, with 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Julian Alaphilippe, Jai Hindley and Romain Bardet among the contenders in south-east൩ern France.
Saturday’s 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Faun Ardèche Classic around G𝔍uilherand-Granges sees the peloton take on ܫsome 3,100m of climbing in the space of 168km, with the steep and aptly-named Côte du Val d’Enfer serving as the final springboard for attackers.
A day later, the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Faun Drôme Classic sees the bulk of the same field tackle another hilly parcours around Étoile-sur-Rhône. The 191km event boasts 17 ascents for a total of 2,400m of climbing, including the short but sharp hauꦕl to the finish on Côte ♕Chaude.
The two races provided firm omens for the year ahead 12 months ago, with Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) storming to a solo win in the Ardèche Cl෴assic before future Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) laid down a marker with victory at t൩he Drôme Classic the following day.
Neither man returns this year, with McNulty on duty at the UAE Tour and Vingegaard choosing to start his season in Galicia this week at the Gran Camiño stage💎 race. No matter, there is no shortage of talent on show in the Drôme and Ardèche this weekend, with Alaphilippe drawing much of the attention.
After an 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:ill-starred 2022 season, Alaphilippe bore the brunt of some bracing criticism from Soudal-Q🌳uickStep maಌnager Patrick Lefevere ൲over the winter. He began his season in late January with three days of racing in Mallorca, but this weekend marks the true start to his Sp🦂ring campaign.
After placing fifth at the Drôme Classic last year, Alaphilippe will look to run through the scales here in preparation for 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Strade Bianche the following weekend. Indeed, the Frenchman i🎶s currently scheduled t🍌o race every weekend bar one – he will not ride Paris-Roubaix – from here until the end of April.
Romain Bardet (DSM) began his season with 8th place overall at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var last week and he will look for♔ a strong display on familiar roads. He won the Ardèche Classic in 2018 and the Drôme Classic four years earlier.
After placing 13th overall at last week’s Volta ao Algarve, 2022 Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley returns to the fray in France this weekenཧd on a strong Bඣora-Hansgrohe team that will also include Sergio Higuita.
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), winner of the Ardèche Class⛦ic in 2021, is present as he builds towards Paris-Nice, as is Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), who pl♛aced second behind Vingegaard in last year’s Drôme Classic.
Other dangermen this weekend include the newly-crowned Colombian champion Esteban Chaves (EF Education-Easy Post), Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroën), George Bennett, Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Rui Costa (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert).
The runes of Omloop and Kuurne this weekend will be scrutinised carefully with the cobbled Clas🔴sics in mind, but, as recent history shows, events in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region have a tendency to provide clear ⛄indications as to who will shine later in the spring and even in the height of summer.
