The riders resumed the Vuelta on Tuesday in a very intensive way. In the quite short stage 16 (120 kilometers), Romain Grégoire first thought he had made the right breakaway, but everything came back together after forty kilometres of racing. In the end, the bunch fought for victory in the final climb, and Michael Storer managed to take fourth place at the top after a strong and opportunistic ride. Jonas Vingegaard won solo and Sepp Kuss retained the red jersey while the peloton will head to the iconic Alto de l’Angliru on Wednesday.
After the second rest day of the Vuelta, the riders’ menu was quite special in Cantabria on Tuesday. From East to West, from Liancres Playa to Bejes, they only had 120 kilometres to race, and only one difficulty to tackle at the very end. The climb to Bejes (5km at 8.5%) was set to decide the day’s winner, but another equally important fight was expected at the start of the race. “It got off to a flying start and we knew it would happen given the stage’s length and the rain at the start,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. “We wanted to be involved from the start because we knew that a group could go early, and we had to be in the breakaway to have a chance of winning.” Fully committed, Romain Grégoire managed to take the lead after a handful of kilometres with nine runners, including Andreas Kron, Romain Bardet, Max Poole, Andrea Piccolo, Kaden Groves and Matteo Sobrero. “I felt it could go early, we were ten up front, with some strong riders and I thought we would go clear,” said the young man. “However, Ineos was not in front and therefore chased. The gap remained at thirty seconds for a while, it went up to forty-five and I thought: they are going to stop at some point. But they didn’t”. After a forty-kilometre fight, everything came back together, unfortunately for the rider from Groupama-FDJ. “I surely was a bit gutted because it was a good move,” he added. “I haven’t done a lot of WorldTour races, but on TV, I rarely saw groups of ten being caught. That’s too bad”.
“It was worth a try,” Michael Storer
In any case, a new race started 80 kilometres from the finish, and the fight for the break resumed as hard for some thirty minutes. Lorenzo Germani took the lead for a while, but ultimately six men hit the front with less than sixty kilometres to go, without a rider from Groupama-FDJ. “The closer we got to the finish, the more we understood that Jumbo-Visma wanted to fight for the win,” said Benoît. The Dutch team therefore made sure to maintain the gap around a minute throughout the last hour of racing, leaving no chance for the attackers. Prior to the final climb, Groupama-FDJ also moved up to the top positions to support Michael Storer. “I was feeling good, so I thought it was worth it to try to go for it on the last climb,” said the Australian. The peloton came at full speed on the final ascent, and just as quickly lost riders from the back. Michael Storer and Romain Grégoire managed to hang on in a group of around twenty riders, but four kilometers from the summit, Jonas Vingegaard managed to go clear after a sharp acceleration. Behind him, the rest of the group did not react immediately, and the Aussie from Groupama-FDJ therefore gave it go by himself and went chasing a few moments later.
“We did what we had to do”, Benoît Vaugrenard
The last Tour de l’Ain winner broke away and remained in-between until the summit. He was unable to catch Vingegaard and Fisher-Black, who attacked before him, and came in the final straight with Wout Poels for third place. The Dutchman beat him in the last metres and Michael Storer therefore took fourth place of the day, fifty-five seconds behind the winner. “I can be happy with fourth today, I did my best and Jonas was just too strong,” said the Australian. “Michael did a good job and got a good result,” added Benoît Vaugrenard. “We must also highlight the hard work of the entire team today. They were in the mix, and that’s what we asked of them. They all contributed to our attempt to win a stage. Stronger riders beat us, but we did what we had to do.” Romain Grégoire also concluded his solid day with a decent seventeenth place at the summit of Bejes. “I felt good today, so I thought it was worth following on the last climb to do a proper full day,” said the 20-year-old from Besançon. On Wednesday, Groupama-FDJ will start with a similar state of mind despite a very difficult menu ahead. “It’s the legendary Angliru stage,” Benoît concluded. “We don’t know how it will unfold, but we know that Remco will still be hyperactive. We will look at this more closely and decide what plan to make for tomorrow.”
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