Pierre-Roger Latour (Ag2r) finally took a long overdue first professional win when he came out on top in the queen stage of the Tour de l’Ain. Having joined forces with Fabrice Jeandesboz (Europcar) on the hardest climb, he finally beat his companion in a two-rider sprint on the final climb after they had managed to hold off a select group of favourites. Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) limited his losses sufficiently to take the overall win.

Being one of the best climbers at the U23 level, Pierre-Roger Latour has always stood out as one of the biggest talents and he has had a remarkable debut season on the professional scene. He first caught the attention when he finished third behind Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana in the Route du Sud and last week he impressed by taking fifth in the Vuelta a Burgos.

This year he was expecting to take it a bit easier in the Tour de l’Ain where he planned to work for Domenico Pozzovivo and Jean-Christophe Peraud but apparently his legs were too good to resist the temptation to go for victory. Already yesterday he got close when he was part of the four-rider group that sprinted for the win and today he finally took his first pro win by conquering the final stage which was also the queen stage.

"This victory gives me great pleasure," he told Directvelo. "This is the first time I win among professionals. To win a race that taes place in the region close to my heart reinforces this feeling. If I had managed to win the GC, it would have been even better but it's a great satisfaction. The white jersey brings a little more, but it is not the most important. 

"I honestly think we have nothing to reproach ourselves in relation to yesterday's stage. We made ​​the race, it did not just smile at us. As I already said, the goal was to get a victory. This is now done. 

"Last night we were quite optimistic about our chances of winning today. The guys did a fantastic job! Samuel Dumoulin and Julien Bérard rode on the front for much of the race. Then Jean-Christophe Péraud too over at the bottom of the Col de Menthières. Hubert Dupont was in the lead group and gave me support when the race was on. Then I attacked several times before getting a gap in the company of Fabrice Jeandesboz. 

"When I saw that we had only ten seconds at the bottom of the climb to Lélex, I got a little scared. But I was reminded abou last year's scenario where there were many attacks. This is exactly what happened today and it allowed us to hold onto the line. For my part, I just rode without ever looking back.

"This is really fun. It's been a while since I last won. I'm not very fast in a sprint so everything must be perfect for me to win. In the Tour de l'Ain, I did not know how I would recover from Burgos where I worked hard. 

"I really thank the whole team, who managed a crazy race. Samuel (Dumoulin) and Julien (Berard) have tightened the race approaching the Cote du Menthières, Jicé (Péraud) made ​​it hard. I attacked three times before getting clear. Hubert (Dupont) was in the breakaway and took a huge turn when I joined him. 

"In the final I made ​​the last 250 meters at full gas. I'm really happy with my results this season, even though I have not fully realized their depth. Now I will head to the Tour du Poitou-Charentes."
 

"The goal was reached," sports director Julien Jurdie said. "Pierre Latour took a victory with panache. It was not easy. We decided to put a rider in the break which Hubert Dupont did ​​to perfection. We decided to tighten the race before Menthières, the last climb of the day. We wanted to try to isolate the FDJ leader but they rode very well. Pierre found the opening, he missed almost nothing from winning the overall but we could also lose everything. 

"Pierre is amazing. I have been sports director for some years and I have rarely seen a boy capable of achieving such things in stage races. I knew he was a very good rider, but I honestly did not think he would be able to do such things in stage races inhis first year.

"He will now have to learn to manage his energy and continue learning next year in WorldTour races."