Three riders in the top seven at the Faun Tour de l’Ardèche

AG Insurance - Soudal delivered a strong collective performance on the second stage of the Faun Tour de l’Ardèche, placing three riders inside the top seven and moving Urška Žigart up to third place in the general classification.

The team took responsibility early in the stage, setting a strong pace on the second climb to reduce the group before remaining active in the attacks that followed in the valley. Megan Arens showed her climbing strength and played an important role in the team’s approach towards the decisive final climb.

Urška Žigart eventually crossed the line in fifth place, with Lore De Schepper taking sixth and Megan Arens seventh to complete an impressive 5-6-7 finish for AG Insurance - Soudal. Žigart’s result also saw her climb to third place in the general classification.

“I think the team did a perfect job today,” Žigart said. “We already set a strong pace on the second climb to really thin out the group, and after that we were present in every attack in the valley.

Megan was really strong on that second climb, so we had a plan to follow her and see if she could make a move. On the final climb, Niamh was really strong and Juliette followed her. I was only around ten seconds behind at the top, so it was a shame I couldn’t close that gap.

Finishing fifth and moving up to third overall is a good result, and having Lore and Megan right behind me in sixth and seventh shows how strong we were as a team today.

We’re in a really good position as a team for the stages to come, so we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do.”