The sixth round of the FDJ French Cup in Paris-Camembert unfortunately went like the previous ones for the Groupama-FDJ on Wednesday, as Thierry Bricaud’s men didn’t manage to achieve a high result in Normandy. A group of eight competed for victory in Livarot, Benoît Cosnefroy claiming it, while Thibaud Gruel took fourteenth place in the second group.
From Magnanville, the peloton headed west on Wednesday to reach Livarot after 205 kilometres on the 85th edition of Paris-Camembert. “We experienced two races today,” said Thierry Bricaud. “The first lasted around a hundred kilometres, with a side wind almost the entire time. Some echelons happened, we had four guys in front but everything came back to normal.” A group of around thirty riders first caught the three fugitives, namely Romain Cardis, Kenny Molly and Antoine Hue, before the rest of the pack bridged across after around 80 kilometres. A few minutes later, the attacks resumed, two riders went away, but an incident took place. “A big crash happened after a hundred kilometres,” explained Thierry. “We got to small, dirty roads. Someone braked and a lot of riders ended up on the ground. Cars and ambulances could not access, but fortunately, almost everyone was able to get going again. They still stopped the race for around twenty minutes so that everyone could come back. For us, only Joshua [Golliker] crashed, but nothing serious. So there was a second start, and we got straight to the action.”
“Thibaud had the potential to do better”, Thierry Bricaud
The riders resumed racing with 80 kilometres to go, and the various climbs followed one another. “It gradually made a selection, and twenty kilometres from the finish, there were only 35-40 riders left in front,” Thierry said. “We still had Thibaud and Brieuc.” After passing the finish line a first time, and while Ewen Costiou was leading the race, the peloton headed towards the côte d’Angleterre and the Butte des Fondits. In the latter, seven men broke away to join the leading man and compete for victory after a few flat kilometres. “The good move unfortunately went without Thibaud,” said Thierry. “It’s even more unfortunate as I think he had the legs to be up front with the best. He missed the moment. He hadn’t a good position at the bottom even though he was going well and was focused all day. It was a youthful mistake, and he paid for it.” In the first chasing group, the 19-year-old eventually took fourteenth place. “He had the potential to do better and it’s frustrating for him,” concluded Thierry. “You learn by making mistakes. We are a bit struggling in the French Cup at the moment, particularly because we have a lot of injuries. The youngsters are there to help us, but they obviously lack experience and strength in the last hour of racing”.
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