It is a field practically worthy of a WorldTour event which will be assembled, the first weekend of March, for the Boucles Drôme-Ardèche. For the 25th edition of the Ardèche race – and the 13th for its little Drôme sister -, no less than thirteen (!) teams from the world's first division will make the trip to the south-eastern quarter of the country (compared to nine last year ), including UAE Team Emirates, winner of both events last year with Juan Ayuso and Marc Hirschi, Lidl-Trek, Soudal-Quick Step and VIsma-Lease a Bike, sorry (see the invited teams here). “It’s a very high level set”said organizer Guillaume Delpech, not a little proud, at the end of the morning, on the occasion of the official presentation of the ProSeries category event.
In 2025, the event will have a special flavor. Because it will be the 25th anniversary of the birth of this competition, first of all “small regional race led by a handful of friends, in Ruoms”remembers the man at the head of the organizing committee. But also and above all because it will be a question of a full-scale test before the same organizing team hosts the big event of the European Championship, at the very end of the season – October 1st to 5th -, on similar circuits (see the program), in the middle of the same vineyards, although the town of Privas will also enter the loop for the Elite, Women and Men road events. “We will take the opportunity to refine our systems”.
Once again, this weekend will give pride of place to punchers-climbers on semi-Classic type courses, with no less than 5,400 meters of positive altitude difference over the two days of racing. The routes remain faithful to what has made the charm of this competition weekend in recent years with, among others, the Val d'Enfer to be crossed three times on Saturday, and the Mur d'Allex to be climbed four times 24 hours later, for circuits which will always revolve around Guilherand-Granges and l'Etoile-sur-Rhône.
The routes of the 2025 Drôme-Ardèche Loops:
