A cold, damp and windy day at Faun Drome Classic made for a tough day out in the saddle on Sunday afternoon but Team dsm-firmenich PostNL were once again towards the fore. Riding well as a group throughout the day, they kept out of any danger as the three rider break was slowly reeled in ahead of the main climbs in the final 60 kilometres. It was on the longest climb of the day that the decisive move was made, with Warren Barguil riding brilliantly to form part of a chasing trio who bridged to another three riders out front. Working well together initially, they built up an insurmountable gap to the chasing peloton, where Romain Bardet and Kevin Vermaerke were disrupting the chase and following any attacks. Coming into the closing five kilometres Team UAE Emirates used their numbers with Hirschi attacking solo and going on to win the race, while Barguil tried to animate the chase behind. On the punchy rise to the line Barguil gave it his all and ultimately crossed the finish in a strong fourth place.
After the finish Barguil said: “The team did a really good job to protect me, Romain and Kevin today. It was really important to have that good teamwork around us so we could save energy. On the Grand Limite climb, I was little bit a blocked to be able to follow Ayuso when he attacked but with Tronchon we made it back to them and joined the leading group. In the end, I think the fourth place is not too bad and we had a good team display during the races this weekend which was nice. I was also happy to be back racing in France again.”