Tour de l'Ain

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Tour de l'Ain
Race details
Date	August
Region	France
English name	Tour of Ain Race of Friendship
Local name(s)	Tour de l'Ain Prix de l'Amitié
Discipline	Road race
Competition	UCI Europe Tour 2.1
Type	Stage race
History
First edition	1989
Editions	19 (as of 2007)
First winner	Serge Pires-Léal
Most recent	John Gadret

Tour de l'Ain, also known as the Prix de l'Amitié , is an annual late season professional cycling stage race held mid-August. The first Tour de l'Ain was held in 1989 and was organized by Dante Lavacca, Armand Peracca and Maurice Josserand. From 1989 to 1992 it was an amateur event. In 1993 it became open to professionals. In 1999 Cyclisme Organisation took over the organizing of the event and in the 1999 edition for the first time the climb of the Grand Colombier was included. The race had a 2.5 UCI status but was in 2002 promoted to the 2.3 category. Since the inception of the UCI ProTour and the UCI Continental circuits in 2005, the race has been classed as a 2.1 category race.^[1] The race has a mountainous profile and is held in the Jura Mountains with the 1,534 metre high Grand Colombier as a decisive climb in the four day stage race.