Guillaume Martin doubled up with another strong ride on Mont Poupet, outclimbing Clément Berthet in the final kilometre to take back-to-back wins.
For the second day in a row, a French race ended with a mountain-top finish, this time up Mont Poupet (3.92 km at 8.75%). The final hour before the climb was the most intense, which meant the w/kg figures were not the highest. Clément Berthet spent 3672 kilojoules over 4 hours and 17 minutes, averaging 14.00 kj/kg/h.
Odd Christian Eiking was in the breakaway and held a 45-second lead before the steeper section of Mont Poupet began. Unfortunately for Unibet–Tietema Rockets, Groupama FDJ were pacing full gas for Guillaume Martin, the winner of yesterday’s hilly Doubs Classic. Pocket climber Clément Braz Afonso put in a massive and sustained pull, bringing the gap down to 15 seconds before Clément Berthet of Decathlon AG2R attacked. Martin was not on his wheel but chased his rival down himself for more than 1.5 km. In the final kilometre, the tempo slowed as Berthet was no longer alone but continued to set the pace. When Martin attacked, Berthet could not respond, and the Groupama FDJ rider claimed his second win in two days.
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Clément Berthet produced 6.56 ᵉW/kg for 11:28 minutes, with Martin drafting slightly more and doing 6.50 ᵉW/kg. As the final hour of the race was tough, José Manuel Díaz and Cristian Rodríguez finished 18 seconds down, each with 6.33 ᵉW/kg. Jørgen Nordhagen, who crashed yesterday, finished 10th with 6.17 ᵉW/kg.