Christophe Riblon outfoxed a group of 20 to take the Boucle du Sud-Ardèche, ahead of Pierrick Fédrigo and Cyril Gautier, both riding for Bbox Bouygues Telecom.
The group formed in the final part of the race, marked by the climb of Rocher de Sampzon, which had to be tackled four times.
There were several attempts from riders to break away in the early part of the race, but it took until km 60 for the right one to establish.
The six riders in the break were Rémy Di Gregorio (Française des Jeux), Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun), Anthony Charteau (BBOx Bouygues Telecom), Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R - La Mondiale), Gaël Malacarne (Bretagne-Schuller) and Sébastien Fournet-Fayard (CarmioOro).
Within a few kilometers, the gap was at 2'45. It eventually stabilized at around four minutes.
Française des Jeux led the peloton to finally catch the break with less than 50km to go. The peloton was substantially reduced in size, at less than 50 riders.
Julien Loubet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) and Cyril Gautier (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) took off on the third ascent of the Rocher de Sampzon. With less than 30km to go, the peloton was less than 30 riders strong.
Several riders bridged up in an highly active final part of the race. Eventually, a group of 20 riders fought it out on the finish line.
Results
1. Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale)
2. Pierrick Fédrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom)
3. Cyril Gautier (Bbox Bouygues Telecom)
4. Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano)
5. Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun)
6. Alexandre Geniez (Skil-Shimano)
7. Emmanuele Sella (Carmiooro-NGC)
8. Rémi Pauriol (Cofidis)
9. Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun)
10. Eduardo Gonzalo (Bretagne-Schuller)
11. Mikaël Chérel (Française des Jeux)
12. Anthony Roux (Française des Jeux)
13. Renaud Dion (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole)
14. Eric Berthou (Carmiooro-NGC)
15. Ludovic Turpin (AG2R-La Mondiale)
16. Dimitri Champion (AG2R-La Mondiale)
17. Guillaume Levarlet (Saur-Sojasun)
18. Clément Lhotellerie (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole)
19. Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank)
20. Yury Trofimov (Bbox Bouygues Telecom)
21. Julien Mazet (BigMat-Auber 93) à 43"
22. Steven Tronet (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole) à 1'59''
23. Jocelyn Bar (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole) à 2'22''