Tour de l’Ain: Markel Beloki seals overall victory on stage 3

But he was chased down well by Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) with 300 metres to go, only to be overhauled three riders in sight of the line, with Axel Mariault (CIC Pro Cycling Academy) coming through to take a maiden professional win at 28.

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Beloki was second on the final day after sprinting well, but not enough to beat Mariault, who denied EF the clean sweep, with another Frenchman, Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ United) taking third on Thursday.

Seven categorised climbs lined the tough route in Jura mountains, but despite several waves of attacks from all angles, Beloki was never in too much trouble, covering all moves over the crucial final categorised ascent, the Col de Menthières mostly on his own and with Cepeda to help.

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In the end, he won by a big margin thanks to his solo stage win to Lagnieu on stage 2, beating Mariault by 52 seconds and Meehan by 55 seconds to the yellow jersey.

“We knew that today was going to be a very hard day for us. Yesterday we lost one rider, so we were just with five guys and we knew it was going to be a hard stage for us; short and super intense, but we could control everything and I’m happy to take the GC,”

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“I hope,” said the 21 year old when told the Tour de l’Ain winner goes on to win a lot of races. “That’s why I’m working every day to perform better, and we will see how the future develops. In a few days I will be in the Vuelta a Burgos, that’s the next race I’ll do.”