On the explosive Le Mans circuit, Lewis Bower made his mark this Friday on the closing stage of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour. Always up there when the road went up, the young New Zealander only missed the decisive move with two laps to go. He eventually counterattacked in the final lap, securing a very solid sixth place on the finish line. Cyril Barthe also scored a top-10 finish (9th) in a small third group.
As in recent years, Le Mans hosted the Région Pays de la Loire Tour’s closing stage this Friday, with a very demanding finishing circuit that included the Gazonfier climb. Very short (300 meters), the latter however featured gradients of nearly 20%, in a straight line, and had to be done five times in the last fifty kilometres. Before reaching the “money time” of the event, the start of the stage proved already very eventful, particularly thanks to… Rémi Cavagna. “The goal was to take the breakaway with riders that were far overall because there was a chance that the leaders would let them go away,” explained Yvon Caër. “Rémi was active at the start, and he put in quite a ride. He did forty kilometres in front, all alone, but the peloton never gave him more than forty seconds.” The French rider was eventually forced to give up, then a breakaway of three riders managed to develop. Yet, when they entered the finishing town, their lead was only thirty seconds on the pack, where the big fight started early on. “On the circuit, we quickly understood that all the teams were a bit on the limit, so we had to follow the attacks to not be one step behind,” Yvon added. “So we did follow, and they were six in front after the first climb of Gazonfier, with Lewis and Cyril.”
“We were right in the mix as a team”, Yvon Caër
The lack of cohesion in this group, however, didn’t allow the two Groupama-FDJ riders to maintain their lead. A small peloton reformed in the second time up the Gazonfier climb, after which Rémi Cavagna went on the attack again. After leading the race for a few kilometers, the former French champion was caught shortly after the third climb of Gazonfier. Then, with 20 kilometres to go, the day’s decisive move went with five strong riders. “We were up there the whole time, but when the strong group formed, we came up a bit short, even though I think we had the ability to be there,” said Yvon. In the final two laps, Lewis Bower, Cyril Barthe, and Rémi Cavagna entered a peloton of barely twenty riders chasing the leading group. The gap narrowed to about ten seconds before the final time up the Gazonfier hill, and while Lewis Bower managed to pull away, he couldn’t bridge across to the front of the race. “I only have one regret,” said Yvon. “In the final, I asked Rémi to chase, but the radio wasn’t working. I wanted to close the gap so we could fight for the stage win as Lewis could keep up with the best, and both he and Cyril were able to do a good sprint.”
Although he came back just a few seconds from the leading men, the young New Zealander couldn’t benefit from any moment of pause in front. He was then caught by two men, whom he outsprinted for sixth place, seventeen seconds behind the winner, Kévin Vauquelin. “Lewis just missed 5-10 seconds on the last climb,” concluded Yvon. “He surprised himself, and he surprised us. We saw today that he’s not just a sprinter, but also a proper puncher. As a team, we were right in the mix, with riders who were eager to do well on a hard circuit. Cyril (9th) was in good condition, Rémi spent a lot of energy, but he’s showing that he’s capable of making repeated efforts. It’s promising.” The latter also took nineteenth place overall, and the team closed the week with a balance far from the expectations. “We had to adapt to the circumstances,” explained Yvon. “There was Paul’s mechanical problem on the first day, then his crash and abandon on the second. Yesterday, we put Tom in position because he was our best card, but he showed physical limitations. Today, I think the strongest were in front, even if I still have a little feeling of unfinished business regarding the final.”
