Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) confirmed the good condition he had shown in the prologue when he won the first big mountain stage of the Tour de l’Ain. The Frenchman bridged the gap to a front trio on the descent from the final climb and managed to beat Florian Vachon (Bretagne), Theo Vimpere (Auber 93) and Pierre-Roger Latour (Ag2r) in the sprint to take both the stage win and the leader’s jersey.

The 2015 season has been a memorable one for Alexandre Geniez who has finally turned several years of disappointment around with several strong rides. After an illness-marred start to the year, he bounced bac with a victory in the Tro Bro Leon classic before he finished in the top 10 in the Giro d’Italia. Geniez was also brought in as a key domestique for Thibaut Pinot for the Tour de France where he impressed a lot by playing a big role in his captain’s win in Alpe d’Huez.

With two grand tours in his legs, few had expected him to shine in the Tour de l’Ain which marked his return to competition. However, an impressive prologue that saw him miss out on the win by just 0.06 second clearly showed that he was still on form and so he was ready to strike when the race entered the mountains in today’s third stage after two sprint stages.

Geniez fully confirmed his great condition as he managed to come away with the win after an impressive performance that had seen him been on top of things throughout the entire stage. In the end, he used his good descending skills to join a front trio and showed his fast sprint as he beat a fast rider lie Florian Vachon in the final dash to the line.

"I attacked 500 meters from the summit of the last climb," he told Directvelo. "There were three riders in front. I thought I had something to do if I could get to the finish with them. I thought I could gain some time in the descent. I finally returned to them near the bottom. 

"Then we all tried to attack in turns. But we marked each toher and it ended in a sprint. I knew if I was well placed and if I was riding intelligently I had a chance to win. 

"I must say that my teammates, Arnaud Courteille, Pierre-Henri Lecuisnier, Kevin Reza and even stagiaire Julien Doubey had a great level today. They were the ones to bring Péraud back. Afterwards, there were attacks without the guys giving 100% and I stayed a bit behind. I did my effort 500 meters from the summit of the last climb and I came back to the three riders that were in front. I won the sprint and I really thank my team for having worked like they did.

"Tomorrow it will be difficult due to the course. We are only six riders per team so it will be difficult to control the race. We'll see if we can keep this yellow jersey. Pozzovivo seems very fit and we might see an attacking race. AG2R-La Mondiale training will do everything to reverse the situation but it is doable for me.

"After the Tour, I have recovered well, without pressure and by doing some criteriums. I feel a little tired and I'll take a break after Tour de l'Ain. Before the end of a season I do the Tour du Doubs, the World TTT Championships, the Tour du Gevaudan Gevaudan and the season-ending races in Italy.

"I'm happy with my season. I managed to recover well after the Tour and it's nice to achieve results like today. So far we have had no luck in this Tour de l'Ain. I missed the victory by six hundredths of a second in the prologue and Marc Sarreau has not been able to play his card in both sprint finishes. It's a shame for him because I think he is a great rider. This success taes the pressure off. The goal was to take at least one victory so our race is already successful."

"Alexandre Geniez was confident after his victory in the Criterium de Marcolès in front of his home crowd andChris Froome," his coach Julien Pinot jokingly told Directvelo. "More seriously, he came here after the Tour de France. He is our leader in this race. His prologue gave confidence for the rest of the week. It's too bad he lost by 6/100 of a second. It's so nothing. 

"Alexandre gets better and better. He becomes aware of his abilities. All riders in the team have done a good job. They went in the breaks. Alexandre also went there once, he probably used a bit of energy there. But he had good legs. 

"To beat a rider like Florian Vachon, you still have to do a good sprint. He has a good top speed. I knew tit because I saw him in his workouts. But it was hard to believeit . We could see it in the Tro-Bro Léon. He is very strong.

"We know the last stage of the Tour de l'Ain. Thibaut (Pinot) has lost the jersey there in 2011 on an almost similar course. Alexandre jhas many rivals. AG2R La Mondiale have many but there are more. I think of Steven Kruijswijk. 

"The risk is big in this type of stage. That was the case for us in 2011. But the differences are bigger this year. From the climb ofMenthières, it will be up to Alexandre."