00:01Welcome to the all-new Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes.
00:04This is the 78th edition of the race formerly known as the Criterium du Dauphiné
00:08and this year's route is particularly testing.
00:11It's an important one for riders who are building towards the Tour de France.
00:15And indeed, all eyes this week are on French teen sensation Paul Sexas
00:19as he prepares for his highly anticipated Tour debut in July.
00:22The 19-year-old a big favourite after his superb spring
00:26featuring wins in the Basque Country and at Fleche Wallonne.
00:34Our preparation went really well. I'm on good form and we've got a strong team.
00:38We're ready for it. There's just Matthew who was a bit ill this morning.
00:42Perhaps food poisoning or something, we're not sure.
00:45It's not contagious at any rate. We just hope that he can make it through the stage.
00:49But the rest of us are all on form.
00:52Amongst Sexas' main rivals will be Matteo Jorgensen, the two-time Paris Nice champion
00:57and Isaac del Toro, winner of the UAE Tour and Torreno Adriatico this year.
01:02However, both riders suffered injuries in the spring and are uncertain about their shape heading into a demanding week.
01:09I've never broken a bone so I don't know what the recovery is like for me and how much it
01:14affected me.
01:14But I think I'm in good shape and definitely on this team we go to races to win and I
01:21think we're here to win.
01:23Del Toro lines up as number one in the absence of defending champion Tadej Pogacar while Juan Ayuso is also
01:29one to watch despite crashes and illness earlier this season.
01:34When we race, you always race to win but then you have to see, you know, what's your level and
01:40obviously what's the level of the riders.
01:42And again, I've been a long time without competing so for sure, especially I think today, it's going to be
01:47a big shock for me
01:49and it's going to be a really hard day for me.
01:51So, I mean, that's why we're here, to have the shock here and not at a tour.
01:56The GC battle starts today with five categorised climbs and more than 3,000 metres of elevation gain.
02:02The final climb of the Côte de Rousseau is the hardest of the lot, 8.2k at 7.6%, topping
02:08out with just over 20k to go.
02:12Well, with that team time trial looming, there was no guarantee the big favourites would want to win today
02:16and have to defend the leaders jersey tomorrow, so the breakaway had a real opportunity.
02:21Ten riders going clear, including the German champion Georg Zimmermann and some decent French climbers,
02:27Clément Brazafonso, Matteo Verschi and Alex Boudin.
02:31They were joined by the champion of New Zealand, George Bennett, whose NSN team are hunting stage wins this week.
02:37We all want to go for stages. We have to, you know, forget anything of the GC and sort of,
02:42it's a bit of a practice run for the Tour de France for a few of us.
02:45You want to practice getting in breakaways and just riding those finals again.
02:50So, you know, it starts today with an opportunity and, I mean, there's a very small chance it survives,
02:57but, you know, you still have to be there in case.
03:01The breakaways lead was never much more than two minutes today and riders began to drop as they hit the
03:06climbs,
03:07notably the Côte de Quay en Chartreuse, 2.3km at a punishing 9.2%.
03:13Well, Sergio Semitier was first over the summit, while further back, Decathlon were pacing the peloton for Sexas,
03:21who had lost a key climbing lieutenant in Matthew Riccatello.
03:24The American who, as we heard, was suffering with illness, was forced to abandon.
03:29By the top of the next climb, the Côte d'Avance, there were only three men left at the front,
03:33Brazzofonso, Bennett and Boudin.
03:36The gap coming down as other teams started to get involved in the chase, including UAE, Ineos and Ideltrek.
03:42Could this leading trio hold on?
03:46Well, the gap was down to around 45 seconds as they embarked on the Côte d'Avance, an ideal springboard
03:51this for late attacks.
03:54And, with the bunch closing in, Alex Boudin made his move, leaving Bennett and Brazzofonso in his dust.
04:03Riders were also getting dropped in the peloton, notably Dani Martinez, the only former winner on the start list this
04:09year.
04:11Boudin doing a superb job, as he pulled around a minute clear of the peloton.
04:17More riders now trying to bridge across.
04:21UAE's Kevin Vermaker getting a small gap, but not going far, because Boudin was simply having one of those days.
04:29The EF Education easy post man securing himself the polka dot jersey at the summit,
04:33and also named the day's most combative rider, but he was eyeing up a bigger prize,
04:37his first World Tour victory.
04:39The man in pink flying down this descent, and entering the final 10k, with over a minute in hand.
04:47Well, meanwhile there was a little GC action, as a group broke away from the peloton and caught Vermaker.
04:52Kevin Vorkalan was in there with his Ineos teammate Oscar Romney, fourth at last year's Tour de France,
04:58as well as Luke Plapp and Ben Thulet.
05:02Sexas, Ayuso and Del Toro all missed the move, so they were chasing hard to limit the damage.
05:08But either way, the day belonged to Alex Boudin.
05:13What a day for the Frenchman to ride on home territory in the pink of EF Education easy post.
05:24It has been an audacious attack by Alex.
05:27He really has shone today on the roads to the home of Bernhard Thévenet.
05:35A bold and brave move by Alex Boudin, his first World Tour win.
05:48Boudin finally landing his first major victory after a fabulous solo.
05:52This the third win of his career, and the first at World Tour level.
05:56The 25-year-old from Albertville striking at his home race,
06:00and becoming the first leader of the Tour of Vernier-Rhône-Alpes, taking every distinctive jersey to boot.
06:08I don't know if it's sunk in yet.
06:11I only believed it with 500m to go.
06:14I could feel the tears coming.
06:17I knew that I'd done it.
06:19But I don't even know what to say.
06:21It's absolutely crazy.
06:26Boudin winning by 32 seconds, with Belgian youngster Ramses de Bruyne leading in the rest.
06:31In the end, the ONLY group only put 12 seconds into the SEXAS group.
06:39Overall, Boudin leads de Bruyne in the rest by 32 seconds.
06:43Due to the difficulty of the course this year, there will be no bonus seconds handed out,
06:47either at the intermediate sprints or the stage finishes.
06:52Well, Boudin putting together quite the collection of jerseys today.
06:56He also leads the points classification, although De Bruyne will wear green tomorrow.
07:04Boudin also picked up 14 King of the Mountains points today, so he also holds the polka dots.
07:09Cimitier will wear it on his behalf on Stage 2.
07:14The day's winner also our best young rider, and with De Bruyne already in green tomorrow,
07:19third place Leo Bisio will take the white jersey on Stage 2.
07:22And Stage 2 is like a one-day classic, 234 kilometres and over 3,500 metres of climbing.
07:29Do join us for that on Monday.
07:31And thanks for watching.
