The 2024 season officially ended this Sunday for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team, and Romain Grégoire was close to concluding it in the most beautiful way. Four days after his third place in the Giro del Veneto, the French puncher proved to be the strongest of the “favorites” in the Veneto Classic. Unfortunately, Magnus Cort, member of the early breakaway, managed to keep seventeen seconds on the line and deprive the Frenchman of a second victory this season. Romain Grégoire therefore concluded his 2024 season with a third podium in two weeks, while Groupama-FDJ finished the year with fifteen victories.
Between Soave and Bassano del Grappa, Groupama-FDJ team was contesting the very last race of its season this Sunday in the Veneto Classic. The race had a slightly higher elevation gain than the Giro del Veneto earlier this week, but it was still supposed to come down to the last fifteen kilometres with a steep unpaved climb then a 400-metre hill at 13% a few kilometres from the finish. Six men got a head start by joining the breakaway after a few kilometres: Anders Foldrager, Tobias Bayer, Magnus Cort, Alexis Gougeard, Kyrylo Tsarenko and Riccardo Biondani. “UAE Team Emirates controlled from the start, they kept it at 1’30 for a long time then they let it go up to three minutes,” explained Philippe Mauduit. “When we got to the circuit with the technical section of La Tisa’s cobbled climb, we thought that they might not be able to do it on their own. So, we went to pull. It was quite complicated to organize, because the peloton was reducing out each time in the technical section, then regrouping a few kilometers further on, and we always had to find our guys. Despite all this, the boys did an excellent job for Romain, because there was 3’40 to close when we took control, and they gradually came back to thirty seconds.”
“I had the legs to win”, Romain Grégoire
After four laps around the selective climb of La Tisa, and a few unsuccessful attacks, a group of fifteen units or so, including Romain Grégoire, eventually headed towards the last two climbs of the day. “The race was really hard, it came down to the legs,” Philippe assured. “There were no real surprises.” On the other hand, the breakaway saw its lead go from thirty seconds to one minute before the unpaved climb located ten kilometers from the finish. Romain Grégoire then accelerated and distanced his rivals for the first time, before five of them managed to come back before the last slopes of the day, with five kilometres to go. Since the collaboration was not ideal among the favorites, Magnus Cort, the last survivor of the breakaway, was able to tackle the final difficulty with a 40-second lead. In the back, Romain Grégoire therefore went all-in. “It was the last hard portion to try to get away so I gave it my all to try to catch Cort,” he said. “But on a final like that, he never cracks, and so I fought for second place.” Despite a sharp attack, which enabled him to distance the rest of the competition and reduce the gap by twenty seconds on the Dane, the Frenchman eventually missed just 17 seconds to take the win.
“We may have made the mistake of giving too much room to this breakaway of strong guys,” said Romain. “We may have started to work a little late, but we tried to close the gap by taking our responsibilities. Then, it was a real battle between the leaders on the two most difficult climbs of the day. Only one breakaway rider stayed away, which meant he was very strong. I am obviously disappointed to finish on the podium again, especially since I think I really had the legs to win today. On the other hand, it is satisfying to still be at this level on October 20, and that also applies to the general level of the team over the entire Italian campaign.” “It’s a mix of frustration and satisfaction,” added Philippe. “The first satisfaction is the team really raced as it had to race around Romain, even if it was sometimes technically complicated. One other satisfaction is that Romain meets the expectations even when he’s under pressure, and he was today. The huge frustration, however, is that Romain really wanted to win, we all really wanted him to win, we came for that, we worked for that, and we didn’t succeed.”
“It’s promising for 2025”, Philippe Mauduit
Despite a superb performance from its young 21-year-old talent, Groupama-FDJ therefore ended the 2024 season on a frustrating note. When it came time to briefly summarize the past year, made of fifteen victories and nearly 40 podiums, Philippe Mauduit had these words: “First of all, I spare a thought for Ignatas and Lars who were unable to race this year. There was also the serious injury of Rudy, that of Paul. From January, we took a big blow, then we continued to suffer a series of injuries. It was really a difficult season to manage for the riders and the staff, but once all the injuries were sorted out, we saw the true value of the team. After the Tour, the riders had all returned to a very high level, and we have been in almost all the race rankings since then. This is promising for 2025. As a general rule, a rider who finishes his season well gets back well on track the following year”.
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