A year after Lewis Bower’s victory, the New Zealander and his teammates from “La Conti” didn’t manage to retain their title on Saturday in Paris-Chalette-Vierzon. They still had an impact on the race, since Titouan Fontaine first entered the day’s breakaway before Ronan Augé took fifth place after an aggressive final. The French Development Team now heads to the Tour d’Eure-et-Loir and the final straight of the 2024 season.
Due to a relatively low elevation gain of 1,500 meters, spread throughout the 180 kilometres of racing, a bunch finish seemed possible this Saturday in Paris-Chalette-Vierzon. However, “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ immediately showed it wanted to create some movement. “We had an offensive mindset, right from the start of the race, so as not to have to take control and chase behind a breakaway,” Alex Chouffe said. “Titouan did exactly what was asked from him, and he quickly found himself in front. He represented the team well in a seven-man breakaway, and they took up to five minutes of a lead. In the back, it got gradually faster with the teams that had nobody in front.” Although there was still three minutes with 65 kilometers to go, the gap was almost closed down in just fifteen kilometres. “It came back very fast at kilometre 120, when we approached the climbs of the final,” Alex added. “We had planned to attack again on the climbs, especially with Colin and Max, but Arkéa-B&B Hôtels Continentale did it before us and caused quite a mess. Jens and Lewis were unable to follow due to a positioning mistake before the climb, and a group of about fifteen went away with Ronan”.
“We can do better”, Alex Chouffe
Unfortunately, the young rider from “La Conti” had to face two teams with numbers at the front. “We had a good card in the lead, because Ronan’s sprint could have been useful in case of a reduced group finish”, said Alex. “But they kept on attacking in the last forty kilometres. Ronan responded as much as he could”. Twenty kilometres from the line, he was still in a leading group reduced to ten units. With four riders in the lead, Arkéa-B&B Hôtels Continentale continued to launch attacks, and eventually succeeded nine kilometres from the line. Jean-Loup Fayolle (Arkéa-B&B Hôtels Continentale) and Louis Hardouin (Guidon Chalettois) managed to get clear and fight for victory, which went to the latter. Ronan Augé crossed the line twelve seconds later and took fifth place. Defending champion Lewis Bower obtained fourth place in the peloton, which meant thirteenth in the race, twenty-one seconds down. “We have to do better, and we can do better,” said Alex. A week after his podium finish in the Grand Prix de Nogent-sur-Oise, Ronan Augé claimed another top result, and will be back racing next week in the Tour d’Eure-et-Loir. “Ben and Noah will be back with us, and we’ll have a nice team to do well,” Alex added. “We will then ride Paris-Tours and Il Piccolo Lombardia to complete a long season which started in Rwanda in mid-February”.
