PREVIEW | Drome Classic 2025 - 2 dozen top riders fight for big win in France

On the 2nd of March the French peloton tackles the second of two hilly classics. The Drôme Classic is another exciting day of racing and will certainly deliver for the classics specialists and climbers in the Ardèche area. We preview the race ahead.

The route features many climbs. As in the Faun-Ardèche Classic the riders take on two loops of an initially hilly circuit, but then face the toughest climbs towards the end. Inside the final 75 kilometers there are none less than 8 categorized ascents, all of them either featuring challenging gradients, distance or both.

The finale into Étoile-sur-Rhône is also in a slight uphill drag, however only a few riders are expected to be within a shot of victory after so many different ascents that are to be faced.

*** Marc Hirschi, Romain Grégoire, Christian Scaroni
** Brandon McNulty, Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose, Alex Aranburu
* Marco Brenner, Isaac del Toro, Jan Christen, Axel Zingle, Ben Tulett, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Ilan van Wilder, Victor Lafay, Bastien Tronchon, Ben Healy, Enric Mas, Javier Romo, Romain Bardet, Clément Champoussin, Lorenzo Fortunato, Corbin Strong, Michael Woods

Pick: Marc Hirschi

How: Small group sprint up the final ramp