On Tuesday, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team kicked off the 2024 season, also the twenty-eighth of its history, on the other side of the globe as usual, on the Tour Down Under. This first official day of racing of the year did not however prove successful for Jussi Veikkanen’s men, and especially for Laurence Pithie, who was unable to take part in the mass sprint as he had planned. The young New Zealander finished just outside the top-20 while Sam Welsford stormed to the stage win. In Lobethal on Wednesday, the scenario could be more open.
The Australian campaign officially started on January 16. It will end in about twelve days with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race, with the new Surf Classic (January 25) in-between. In total, the riders should spend almost three weeks in Australia to launch the year 2024. “We arrived exactly one week before Saturday’s criterium,” said Jussi Veikkanen. “It was rather mild the first day, we did not experience extreme heat, and acclimatization went quite well. Laurence and Reuben joined us a few days later, as they were already “on site”. We did great training, sometimes up to five hours, we took advantage of the weather and did a recon of the stages given that several riders have never done this race.” Last Saturday, the whole bunch had the opportunity to test itself for the first time on the unofficial Down Under Classic, with an hour of racing in the streets of Adelaide. “We had some regrets because the breakaway made it to the end,” added Jussi. “Laurence felt pretty good and finished second in the peloton sprint (8th in the race, editor’s note).” Ignatas Konovalovas, however, was unable to start the criterium, nor was he able to line up this Tuesday for the first stage of the Tour Down Under. “For his last year among the pros, he wanted to enjoy Australia and he was really motivated,” said Jussi. “Unfortunately, after a few days here, he felt severe back pain which prevented him from riding. Until the last moment, we hoped that it would improve but that didn’t happen and we were forced to give up. For the moment, however, he is staying with us because we also have races next week and you never know.”
“We were all motivated”, Jussi Veikkanen
The Groupama-FDJ cycling team therefore found itself down to six men for the opening of the WorldTour calendar, on a circuit of about fifty kilometres around Tanunda that had to be covered three times and without any major obstacle. The peloton also took the opportunity to block the race right away and compete for the first bonus sprint, after twenty-four kilometres. The breakaway only went after that point, with Louis Barré and Georg Zimmermann taking the lead. Yet, their gap never exceeded three minutes and their attempt ended almost sixty kilometres from the finish. The bunch sprint scenario proved even more obvious. “We knew the route, the place, and we knew very well what was ahead of us,” explained Jussi. “At the briefing last night, the spirits were high, we were all motivated, and with the focus to detail as usual. The idea was to support Laurence as best as possible to allow him to sprint. As the day progressed, the guys came down to the car and told us that they weren’t feeling great. It was super-hot, around 38° degrees, but we’re not going to find any excuses. Everyone was in the same situation.” The young “Kiwi” also experienced an incident one lap from the end. “He suffered a small crash, but nothing serious,” added Jussi. We changed his front wheel, but he wasn’t affected and that did not bother him in the final.”
“We were not up to it today”, Jussi Veikkanen
The team’s sprinter was also well supported by Clément Davy, Reuben Thompson and Enzo Paleni, but after the last ascent of Menglers Hill, fourteen kilometres from the finish, the Groupama-FDJ’s rider struggled to find their way through. Laurence Pithie briefly came back up with six kilometres to go, but he was then passed again by the different lead-out trains. “We put in place the best possible plan with the riders we had, but we couldn’t execute it,” confessed Jussi. “We were not up to it today. We were not able to bring Laurence back up as planned so that he could be there to sprint. We had good hopes after the criterium, so the result was not what we expected. We will discuss together, make a plan for tomorrow, go for a new challenge, but we surely have regrets about today.” Unable to find an open way in the final, Laurence Pithie eventually placed twenty-second on the day while Sam Welsford took the stage win. Tomorrow, the final will be slightly harder. “It’s a bit of an unknown,” concluded Jussi. “We’ll do three laps again, and the last climb (1.6 m at 7.5%) is about ten kilometres from the finish. We did a recon of it, but we need to see how the race will unfold. First, we hope that Rudy will be with the best for the overall, which is our second goal. If it goes our way, we also hope that Laurence will be there to sprint. The bunch will definitely reduce, but how much?”
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