Romain Gregoire emerges victorious at Faun-Ardèche Classic 2025 as confusing finale sees a number of riders get lost!

Confusion was the leading emotion after a curious finale to the 2025 Faun-Ardèche Classic saw half the lead group take a wrong turning inside the final kilometre, allowing Groupama - FDJ's Romain Gregoire to take the win. 

7 riders attacked early to form the day's breakaway, with the most notable among them being Lotto's Jonas Gregaard and TotalEnergies' Matteo Vercher. The peloton was keeping things on a relatively tight leash though, not allowing the break to build a big advantage. Heading into the final 30km though, despite numerous attacks from the bunch, a trio of Vercher, Kamiel Bonneu and Xabier Mikel Azparren remained clear at the front of the race. 

Once they were caught, the big attacks started again on the climb of the Saint-Romain-de-Lerps, with XDS Astana Team's Lorenzo Fortunato proving strongest, crossing the summit of the ascent with a lead of around 25 seconds. On the final little rise of the day, Fortunato was joined at the front by Enric Mas. Inside 3km to go though, both had been caught by the chase. In a 12-man fight for the line, it was expected to be a reduced-bunch sprint, but confusion casued the majority of the group to take a wrong turning in the finale, allowing Romain Gregoire to take victory ahead of Marco Brenner and Fortunato.