Bastien Tronchon is not yet a pro rider, but has been signed as a stagiaire for
AG2R Citroën Team for the final months of 2022. Little did he know that on the third day of competition he would be winning in front of some of the biggest nams of the peloton.
"It still hasn’t sunken in. Words are hard to find. It’s an incredible day," Tronchon said in a post-race interview. "I spent the stage at the front with a view to starting the climb of the Picon Blanco as far ahead as possible". The 20-year old got himself on the day's break which carried a hefty lead over the main climb of the day, where the peloton split up with the attacks of Pavel Sivakov and Miguel Ángel López, and where his own group split up with him being slightly distanced.
"I managed my climb without worrying about the others and managed to crest just before the general favorites. The descent was very technical but I was able to hang onto Pavel Sivakov’s wheel until the finish," he explained. Having seen his breakaway companions, aswell as López dropped, Tronchon still had the difficult task of hanging on to the Frenchman's wheel over the final hilltop, but he did so successfully and was on his way to victory.
Having done a small share of the work, and benefiting from Sivakov's GC ambitions, he played out the finale to perfection to take a very special win. "I have been progressing little by little over the past few years and I am happy to be this active in my first race as a professional stagiaire. I hope to continue to provide what the team wants from me for the rest of the season," he concluded.
