Neo-pro leads Soudal Quick-Step home Sunday afternoon.
Seventeen climbs and more than 2300 vertical meters were the ingredients of the Drôme Classic, which wrapped up an exciting weekend of racing in France. The event, which our team won twice – in 2016 and 2021 – followed a well-known pattern in the first hours, when a small group moved away from the bunch and opened a five-minute gap.
The chasers weren’t troubled by this margin, which they gradually reduced before bringing back three escapees with some 60 kilometers to go. That was the cue for the attacks to start coming, as many riders tried to make the difference and whittle down what was a numerous peloton. Eventually, on the second-to-last hill on the course, six men put some distance into the field and rode all the way to the finish, where Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) took the victory.
Just like Saturday, Antoine Huby was Soudal Quick-Step’s best finisher, concluding his home race outside the top 20. From here, the 23-year-old Frenchman will travel to Italy, where he’ll join our team for one of the best races of the season, Strade Bianche.
Photo credit: ©Billy Ceusters / Getty Images
