After a successful detour in the velodromes two weeks ago, with three European medals in the U23 category, including a gold one, Noah Hobbs made his return to the road in the best possible way in the Tour Alsace. The young 20-year-old Englishman stood out on Sunday in stage 5 of the French event, the only one suitable to sprinters. He claimed victory with a great margin and conquered his third success of the 2024 season with “La Conti”, which also placed Brieuc Rolland in eleventh place overall.
A benchmark event in the “Class 2” French calendar, the Tour Alsace started last Wednesday with the usual, short time trial contested with split teams. Over the 4300 metres in Sausheim, a German trio took the win in 4 minutes 57 seconds, which was five seconds less than the mark achieved by the Lewis Bower/Noah Hobbs/Brieuc Rolland trio for “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ. “Coming ninth just five seconds down, it was a good time trial,” said Jérôme Gannat. “It was also good for the general classification regarding Brieuc, as he hadn’t lost much time.” The next day, heading towards Ferrette, the young Frenchman also limited his losses perfectly despite a strange day. “It was a bit of a tricky stage, and a very steep climb halfway through the race caused a big selection in the peloton,” added Jérôme. “There were a lot of moves going on, twenty-eight riders found themselves in front and we were not represented. We pulled a bit then Brieuc attacked at the penultimate time on the finish line to join the first group. Everything eventually came back together, and there was then this specific finish with a 300m climb at 12% then 500m at 4%. Brieuc did well again, taking seventh place. He suffered a small gap on the first two, but it was still a good day for the overall”.
“Brieuc tried to go for the podium rather than contenting himself with the top-10”, Jérôme Gannat
Sixth overall before the queen stage towards the Planche des Belles Filles on Friday, Brieuc Rolland kept on his good momentum on this famous climb. “He was our sole leader, and the team did a great job all day to keep him in good position, especially approaching the Col des Chevrères”, Jérôme reported. “Then, he limited his losses well in the Planche. Behind Jorgen Nordhagen, who also tackled the climb with a small lead, Brieuc followed the best”. The young Norwegian won solo, while a group of 7-8 riders finished some forty seconds behind. “Brieuc took seventh place, a few seconds behind the second place, but we saw later that these few seconds were important for the overall position,” commented Jérôme. Besides, stage 4 towards Valentigney on Saturday caused some big changes in the general classification, also to the Breton’s disadvantage. “It was still a hard stage with 3000 meters of elevation gain,” explained Jérôme. “A strong group of thirteen got away and took a lead of up to 4’30. One rider was dangerous, namely Joris Delbove, but Visma-Lease a Bike had also placed a rider in front. They still maintained a good pace in the peloton, but they struggled to keep it close.”
The peloton eventually got much closer on the Lomont climb, came back to less than a minute, and that’s when Brieuc Rolland gave it a go. “He attacked, but found himself alone, and so it was complicated,” said Jérôme. “He came back just 40 seconds away from the breakaway, but he couldn’t make it across. He kept on going nonetheless because he was one minute ahead of the peloton, which put him back in third overall. But in the last twenty kilometres, he gradually lost time and the peloton brought him back in the last five kilometres. In the end, some riders from the breakaway who were more than a minute behind overall passed him, but at least he tried to go for the podium rather than contenting himself with the top 10.” Tenth place overall after this fourth stage, Brieuc Rolland also lost a position on Sunday in the closing stage, since one of his rivals entered the morning breakaway. “It was a stage for the sprinters, all flat and without wind,” explained Jérôme. “We knew that Noah was our best card, but we had to make sure there was a sprint at the end. With the loss of Titouan Fontaine and Jens Verbrugghe, we also didn’t have the strength to control the race as we would have liked. We had to play with the break and the other teams interested in a sprint. Louis Rouland was in front and took the bonus seconds to pass Brieuc, but we couldn’t fight for everything.”
“Noah is confident, and his duo with Lewis is working well”, Jérôme Gannat
“La Conti” Groupama-FDJ therefore focused on the bunch sprint and was definitely right to do so. “Brieuc and Ben Askey had to take part in the chase of the breakaway 60 kilometres from the finish because it was still a dangerous one, and the gap took a while to reduce”, said Jérôme. “They did their part well, and it was planned that we would only keep Lewis in the final for Noah. It all came back with two kilometres to go, then the sprint was difficult because there was a lot of fighting for position. There was a small bridge with cobblestones, and Lewis was planned to lead out Noah at that point, which he did perfectly. Noah opened up his sprint right away, and no one was able to catch him. He won with a good margin”. He especially beat Liam Walsh and Tim Torn Teutenberg. “We could see that he was in good shape because he was going further in the climbs than usual this week,” added Jérôme. “He’s also confident, and his duo with Lewis is working well. He was led out just like he likes, meaning he could start the sprint himself. This is already his third victory this year, and there may be more. For the team, it makes it nine victories if we include Brieuc’s wins with the French national team. It’s positive from that point of view, and it shows the riders’ commitment in this second part of the season. We’ll be competing in the Gran Premio di Poggiana in ten days, then we’ll continue with the Tour of Romania, where we can still aim for stage wins.”
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