He wasn’t probably the one who was expected, but at the end of the long, slightly uphill finish at the Grand Prix de Québec, his tenacity paid off. Not a coincidence, eight months after his serious crash at the Tour Down Under. For the very first time in his career, on Friday, Rudy Molard climbed on the podium on a WorldTour Classic, thanks to a long and resisting sprint on the first Canadian round won by Michael Matthews. This is the first podium for Groupama-FDJ in Québec since Anthony Roux in 2016 (3rd).
On the banks of the St. Lawrence River, there were no surprises for the riders on Friday for the 13th Grand Prix de Québec. The traditional 12.6-kilometre circuit, including the short but explosive climbs of La Montagne, La Potasse and La Fabrique, was once again on the menu, with the last kilometre averaging 4% on the “Grande Allée”. This route, usually suitable to the punchers and sprinters, had to be covered sixteen times and a six-man breakaway quickly took the lead. Frank van den Broek, Artem Shmidt, Félix Hamel, Jonas Walton, Antonio Polga and Filippo Ridolfo gained up to six minutes, then as the final approached, the leading group was reduced to Van den Broek and Shmidt only. The peloton easily managed the chase, then controlled the first attacks six kilometres from the finish. With two laps to go, the bunch was still quite big, Matteo Jorgenson then went solo in the final lap, but the pack was right behind him when they approached the final climbs. “We were riding for Romain and Valentin, but we had an issue two laps from the finish when things started to get lively,” said Yvon Caër. “Romain had to change bikes due to a puncture and that disorganized us a bit. Olivier and Clément repositioned him, but probably a bit too fast. Eventually, when the attacks occurred on the last climb, Romain and Valentin were not in a good enough position at the corner. On the other hand, thanks to his experience and his condition, Rudy managed to position himself quite well.”
“I said to myself: go for it, take your chance,” Rudy Molard
The last, strong attacks were made by Julian Alaphilippe and Tadej Pogacar, a group of six men broke away slightly, but in the last few hundred metres, a larger bunch got back together for the sprint. As often. “It was quite an intense final,” explained Rudy. “UAE set a fast pace to tire everyone out and, in the end, it was to my advantage, because the pure sprinters struggled a bit. I know I can be fast on this kind of finish, but the goal was to lead Romain out. I had to save myself to be his last man, but when I turned around with one kilometre to go, I didn’t see him. At 800 metres, I took another look, and I didn’t see him coming back. In the meantime, it opened up in front of me and I said to myself: go for it, take your chance, and he might come back a little later in the sprint. Once I got going, I gave it my all until the line.” By taking the initiative to start early, the 34-year-old French puncher immediately got into the top positions, and he didn’t leave them from there on. In contact with Michael Matthews for a bit, he eventually took a superb third place on the line. “He delivered a very high-level sprint,” praised Yvon Caër. “He was very smart in the final, thinking that it was up to Romain to come back, and not up to him to go and get him. When he saw that it was getting difficult given the race dynamics, he took the initiative to sprint. Great riders know how to make good decisions and stand out when necessary.”
“A lesson of persistence, patience, and hard work”, Yvon Caër
After thirteen years in the pro peloton, and two weeks after welcoming his first child, Rudy Molard thus conquered his first podium in a WorldTour Classic, in what was a very unusual season. “This result ranks in the top 5 of my performances after the victory at Paris-Nice and my two red jerseys at the Vuelta”, he said. “Finding myself next to the best sprinters in the world in this kind of finish, it says a lot about my performance. I am a little surprised, but I also feel a lot of satisfaction. I have come a long way with this difficult start to the season and this crash at the Tour Down Under. It took me more than three months to come back, and it is a great revenge for what happened. I feel 100% again, it is behind me once and for all, and I just want to enjoy it. Being able to finish on the podium here, in a WorldTour Classic, feels extremely good.” “I want to point out that he hasn’t raced for eight weeks, with the exception of Hamburg last week,” added Yvon. “He’s really an example because he trained to reach WorldTour level and he’s ready straight away. Hats off to him. We also think back to his start to the season, which proved very hard because of this crash. He never gave up mentally. It’s a lesson of persistence, patience, and hard work.”
Romain Grégoire also made it into the top 20 (19th) in this first Canadian round. The team is now heading to the second one in Montreal on Sunday, hoping it will be just as good. “On paper, it suits us better,” concluded Yvon. “We are very confident, Romain and Valentin will probably want to shine also, and Rudy can also achieve a good performance with the confidence and form he has.”
