Tour Féminin des Pyrénées: Paula Blasi claims overall victory as unstoppable breakaway rider Eline Jansen crashes and goes on to take stage 3 win

The successful breakaway crossed the line roughly 49 seconds ahead of the main field, their efforts not affecting the top spot in the overall classification, with Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) taking the overall victory at the CIC-Tour Féminin des Pyrénées.

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It was a 1-2 overall finish for UAE Team ADQ, with Dominika Włodarczyk taking second place in the standings at 1:57 back, while Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ) moved up to third with the same time.

5th edition of the race concluded on Sunday with the third stage, a 114.4km race from Nay to Jurançon with 1,700m of elevation, and a finishing circuit was 34km with three climbs: Cote de Montvert – 2.1km 7.6%, Cote de Bosdarros 1.6km 5.4%, and Cote de Merce 500m at over 12% that peaked at 4km from the finish line.

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Ten riders emerged in the breakaway, gaining a maximum of 2:30 minutes that included Jansen and Curinier along with Irati Aranguren (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Nadia Quagliotto (Cofidis Women), Océane Mahé (Ma Petite Entreprise), Alice Coutinho (Mayenne Monbana My Pie), Awen Roberts (Canyon-SRAM Generation), Agua Marina Espínola (Team Abadie Magnan), Fariba Hashimi (Vini Fantini-BePink) and Olha Kulynych (Eneicat-Be Call).

Curinier and Jansen, despite an earlier crash, split off the front of the breakaway with 3.5km remaining, gaining a slim 10 seconds, but it forced reactions from the main peloton that sat about a minute back with Włodarczyk and Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ). Several riders in the overall classification were aiming to gain even a few seconds before the finish.

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The two leading riders held onto their gap in a sprint to the line, where Jansen took the victory ahead of Curinier, while Quagliotto took third. Blasi crossed the line one minute later to secure the overall victory.

More to follow…