The second stage of Paris-Nice, heading towards Orléans, was supposed to be very tricky. The Groupama-FDJ cycling team unfortunately got a bitter confirmation. Like his teammates Valentin Madouas and Olivier Le Gac, David Gaudu crashed on Monday and is now out of the general classification’s fight. The crosswinds and the echelons made it impossible for the riders caught in crashes to come back. Kevin Geniets (11th) and Stefan Küng (15th) managed to follow the first bunch, but the team will now have to change their goals for the end of the week.
From the Chevreuse valley to Orléans, the route was almost exclusively straight, to the South, in stage 2 of the “Race to the Sun”. The large, open plains on the way also left no doubt about the significant risk of echelons, and everyone was aware of it. The day however started quite peacefully as Philippe Gilbert, Matthew Holmes (Lotto-Soudal) and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) were able to take the lead without putting on a real fight. After an hour of racing, the trio had a five-minute lead while some crashes were already happening back in the peloton. Things got even crazier with about a hundred kilometres to go, and as a direct consequence, more riders went on the ground. While echelons were starting to form, David Gaudu found himself among the riders involved in a crash. “It was a very nervous, stressful day, and the goal for us was to position David and stay with him”, said Kevin Geniets. “Unfortunately, he crashed, and we wondered what to do. We were instructed to continue in our group”. “If David had been able to get up immediately, we would have made them wait for him”, confirmed Philippe Mauduit. “But by the time he got back on his bike, Stefan and Kevin’s group was already several minutes ahead. It was a waste of time, and there was not much more to do.” The bunch was therefore completely dislocated even before the mid-race, and the Groupama-FDJ cycling team experienced further mishaps with the Valentin Madouas and then Olivier Le Gac’s crashes.
“A bad day”, Philippe Mauduit
Sixty kilometres from the line, the breakaway was already caught, and the first peloton was only made of around forty men including Stefan Küng and Kevin Geniets. “There were some more echelons, and I got caught behind once because I was not in a good position”, added the Luxembourger. “However, I did not give up and I told myself that it could come back”. The first group indeed got back together entering the last hour of racing and remained as it was until the end. Stefan Küng did try to break away with two other riders with about ten kilometres to go, but Quick-Step Alpha-Vinyl had still enough riders to make sure it was a final sprint for Fabio Jakobsen. The latter took the victory while Kevin Geniets got in the mix to take eleventh place, slightly ahead of his Swiss mate (15th). David Gaudu finished nearly ten minutes behind, just after Michael Storer, Olivier Le Gac and Valentin Madouas. “It’s a bad day and it’s obviously not what we hoped for,” added Philippe Mauduit at the finish. “We really had the ambition to be in front because we know we have the means to be there, but crashes are part of the race. When there is wind on long, straight lines, we know that it can happen. We got through yesterday, not today. Kevin and Stefan delivered the performance we expected of them, and it is reasonable to think that David would have finished with them if he had not crashed. It is how it is… It’s obviously a pity for our general classification’s ambitions, but there are still some very nice stages ahead and I think that’s also why David got back on his bike. However, it is a little early to say what we will be able to do now. We will have to see how they will feel tonight, and more especially tomorrow”.
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