Storer roars in Auron
March 15 th 2025 - 15:21
A short, explosive stage from Nice to Auron saw Michael Storer (Tudor) rise to victory at the summit. The Australian climber attacked early in the day and proved to be the strongest in a 15-man breakaway that also featured Julian Alaphilippe, who gave his all to lead his teammate toward the stage win and the 4th position in the general classification. In 2nd place in the overall standings, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) gained 3 seconds on Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), who retains the yellow and white jersey on the eve of the final stage around Nice. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) is now 3rd (+1’20’’) after Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) crashed out of the race. This is Storer's 7th professional victory, the 5th on French roads and the 3rd in the UCI World Tour after he took two stages of La Vuelta 21 in similar fashion.
The peloton of the Race to the Sun faces the final weekend with two decisive stages that will crown the overall winner of the 83rd edition. First, Saturday’s course takes them to the Auron ski resort, atop a 7.3-km climb with an average gradient of 7.2%. 129 riders enjoy a sunny start from Nice as they head for the snowy mountains.
Big battle for the break
Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) accelerates as soon as the flag drops. His move is followed by a flurry of attacks, and the first climb of the day, the cat-2 Côte d’Aspremont (summit at km 19.6), becomes the perfect launchpad for many more attackers.
After 17 kilometers, two groups merge to form the 15-man break of the day with Kelland O’Brien, Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Josh Tarling (Ineos), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Ivan Romeo (Movistar), Julian Alaphilippe, Michael Storer (Tudor), Johan Jacobs, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Neilson Powless, Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Clément Izquierdo (Cofidis), Alexandre Delettre and Jordan Jegat (Total Energies).
Skjelmose goes down
Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek and UAE Team Emirates-XRG take turns at the front of the peloton to control the gap. The situation changes after Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) crashes out of the race with 52 km to go. The Danish climber is taken to the hospital after hitting the ground on his right hip.
The gap goes up to 3’10’’ (km 68) before new faces up the ante in the bunch. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Bahrain Victorious and XDS-Astana collaborate to bring the gap down to 1’45’’ at the bottom of the climb to Auron.
Storer rises
Michael Storer sets the pace at the front. Mauro Schmid is the last rider to keep up with the Australian climber, who eventually went solo inside the last 2.5km. Never looking back, Storer takes the stage win and also moves from 13th to 4th in the overall standings.
Behind him, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) shake the GC group. The Austrian climber finishes 6th (+57’’), ahead of the French youngster (+1’04’’). Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) follows with a gap of 1’11’’, just 3 seconds ahead of the rest of the GC contenders.
