On the Muscat Classic, this Friday, Tom Donnenwirth put on the Groupama-FDJ cycling team jersey for the first time in an official competition. And the 27-year-old puncher already lived up to the expectations! Despite a climb close to the finish, the race ended with a small-group sprint and the Frenchman snatched fifth place, after David Gaudu also gave him a hand. Lorenzo Germani stood out in the last hour of racing as well. A promising day ahead of the Tour of Oman, which starts on Saturday.
As a forestate before a demanding week of racing in the Arabian Peninsula, the Muscat Classic was on the menu for the Groupama-FDJ riders this Friday. Despite racing this event for the first time, the team had real ambitions for the 170 kilometres including a few steep climbs. This is why Enzo Paleni took commands for quite a while at the head of the peloton, behind a 3-rider breakaway. “We had to take our responsibilities because we knew we had our chances in the final,” said Thierry Bricaud. The breakaway was actually caught with some forty kilometres remaining, on the climb of Al Jissah, at the top of which Lorenzo Germani managed to get away after two accelerations. The Italian took a gap, caught up with a previous attacker, and led the race alone for around twenty kilometres. The bunch constantly remained thirty seconds behind, and only got closer on the Al Hamriyah climb, with about twenty kilometres to go. There, the Italian from Groupama-FDJ was joined by Jay Vine, Chris Harper and Pepijn Reinderink. “Lorenzo was doing very well, and he served the team’s interests well with his breakaway,” Thierry added.
“A top-5 right from the start, that’s cool!”, Tom Donnenwirth
The young man eventually reached the last climb of the day, seven kilometres from the finish, with the other three attacks, but he then paid for his efforts. “I thought Lorenzo was the only one in front, but on the climb, I saw that there were other guys, including a UAE rider,” Tom Donnenwirth reported. “It was a bit of a tricky situation.” Vine and Harper were able to reach the top of the last climb (1km at 9%) with a few seconds ahead of a fragmented peloton, which regrouped with about thirty units on the descent. “It was a bit of a difficult final, but it was still fast,” commented Thierry. “A lot of riders had the ambition to finish in a small group. Which is what happened.” “I picked up speed on the descent, then I saw David coming really fast to help close the gap,” said Tom. “It’s nice that a great champion like him makes this kind of effort for me, and I’ll repay him on the Tour of Oman! When I understood that we had a chance to come back, I really focused on the sprint.”
The attackers were caught in the last kilometre and the victory was indeed decided in a slightly uphill sprint. “I saw that the wind was coming from the right, so I put myself on the left side of the road, in a good wheel,” Tom added. “Unfortunately, I missed a bit of power. It’s the kind of finish that I like, but when you have to push big gears, I don’t necessarily have the legs of a real sprinter (smiles). I did what I could, and it still is a good result for the team.” The newcomer to Groupama-FDJ took fifth place, while the victory went to Rick Pluimers. “I had set myself the goal of being in the final and doing a good sprint,” he said. “I’m still happy even if I think we could have grabbed a podium given our race today. It was my first day of racing with the team, so getting a top-5 right from the start is cool!” “This nice place by Tom is encouraging for the future even if we were hoping for better from this day”, concluded Thierry. “Anyway, we had a solid team, and it bodes well for the Tour of Oman which starts tomorrow.”