The Race
The Tour of Ain 2023
The 35th edition will take place from 31 th to 2nd August.
Sportingly speaking, historically, the Tour de l’Ain is revealing: Thibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet, Julian Alaphilippe, Warren Barguil, David Gaudu, the current leaders of French cycling have all won their first professional victory there or revealed themselves on the ‘test. It is not a coincidence. One of the strengths of the Tour de l’Ain is its territory: a playground which, by its geographical diversity, so favorable to the practice of cycling, allows the creation of a race in stages – alternating plain and mountain – which will allow best runners to emerge at the end of an often captivating and fiercely contested race.
The Tour de l’Ain is a festive and friendly event that fully participates in the life and animation of the municipalities crossed. Its partners will develop, this year, operations to promote the use of bicycles in daily life and its health benefits.
These new actions show the importance of the commitment of the event’s partners to bring the Tour de l’Ain to life: institutional partners, stopover communities, economic partners, TV and media, organization volunteers, cycling fans and the general public…without all the actors of the territory, the Tour de l’Ain could not fully exist, thank you to everyone.
History
Created in 1989, the Tour de l’Ain is integrated into the calendar of the International Cycling Union (Class 2.1) and counts for the UCI Europe Tour. A classification that allows it to host 20 teams among the best teams in the world.
Taking place a few weeks after the Tour de France, a special place is given to neo-pros and development teams.
The Tour de l’Ain has thus enabled young talents such as Romain Bardet, Warren Barguil, Julian Alaphilippe, Pierre Latour or more recently David Gaudu to assert themselves alongside experienced riders such as David Moncoutié, Alexandre Vinokourov or again Thomas Voeckler.
The short and dynamic stages borrowing, on the end of the event, the reliefs of the Haut-Jura, make the Tour de l’Ain, a safe bet on the international circuit, favoring a complete runner with asserted qualities of climber.
The previous edition
| Winner | Guillaume MARTIN (FRA) - TEAM COFIDIS |
| Second | Mattias JENSEN (DEN) - TREK-SEGAFREDO |
| Third | Rudy MOLARD (FRA) - GROUPAMA-FDJ |
| Green Jersey | Mattias JENSEN (DEN) - TREK-SEGAFREDO |
| Polka Dot Jersey | Hannes WILKSCH (ALL) - EQUIPE D'ALLEMAGNE ESPOIRS |
| White Jersey | Mattias JENSEN (DEN) - TREK-SEGAFREDO |
| Super-Combative | Julian ALAPHILIPPE (FRA) - QUICK-STEP ALPHA VINYL TEAM |
| Team Classification | TREK-SEGAFREDO |
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is a great cycling region, and we're proud to host such emblematic races every year, which are always great moments of celebration and popularity for our region and its people. The Tour de l'Ain is a fine example of this.
In 2023, the Tour de l'Ain is once again set to be a not-to-be-missed event. From Loyettes to Oyonnax via Lagnieu, spectators will be able to admire the elite of the world peloton over 3 days of racing. There's no doubt that the geographical diversity of the Ain region, between the plains and the mountains, will, as it does every year, provide an opportunity to follow stages that are hotly contested and full of suspense, at the end of which we all hope to see a French rider come out on top, as Guillaume Martin did last year.
More than just a great sporting moment, this event will be an opportunity to highlight the great values that cycling conveys: a sense of effort, perseverance and surpassing oneself. These are also the values that we are keen to promote through our partnership with the Tour de l'Ain.
Have a great race!
Laurent WAUQUIEZPrésident de la Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes