Alongside Arnaud Démare, Groupama-FDJ unfortunately missed a great opportunity of winning this Wednesday in Albacete, in stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana. The team’s sprinter did not get the opportunity to sprint properly and thus finished in tenth position on the line. He will now have to wait until stage 8 to get another chance to open his record on the Vuelta.
The start of the fifth stage immediately set the tone for the day on the Vuelta this Wednesday. Pelayo Sanchez (Burgos-BH), Oier Laskano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Xabier Mikel Azparren (EUskaltel-Euskadi) took the lead from the start, without the bunch contesting it, and usual pattern then establish itself through the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. “It was a long day,” even confessed Arnaud Démare. The peloton gave the trio more than a six minute-lead before the sprinters’ teams came along to take turns, with Anthony Roux doing it for the Groupama-FDJ. The gap went down to 3’30 as coming to the intermediate sprint, where Arnaud Démare took fifth place. Despite a few lively moments due to a slight crosswind, the field remained very much compact entering the final 30 kilometres. The former French champion and his teammates proved attentive on a short and unsuccessful echelons’ attempt a bit later. On the other hand, they got much more confused when a massive crash occurred in the middle of the peloton, eleven kilometers from the line, while the sprint was about to set up. Kevin Geniets went on the ground, but the bunch then partially reformed for the final. Although being up there in the pack, Arnaud Démare’s train never found the right opening and the Frenchman also found himself blocked in the last few hundred meters.
“We did not hold our position”, Philippe Mauduit
“We failed today because we did not put Arnaud in a position so that he could do the sprint,” said Philippe Mauduit. “It was a complicated finish with this massive crash and the bunch coming back together afterwards. Before this crash, the guys were together, next to each other and organized. The crash blew this organization up. It’s part of the sport. We should have been able to get things right in the final, even though the roundabouts didn’t help. Still, we are not looking for excuses. It was difficult for all the teams, and we did not hold our position today. Yesterday, we were proud of what the boys had put in place and achieved. We knew we were able to do it and finish it off. But today, we were not in the mix.” Arnaud Démare therefore did not have the opportunity to face the winner, Jasper Philipsen, and thus placed tenth on the line. “It was a bit of a weird sprint,” he said. “Sometimes, things don’t go your way. We might not be strong or clear-minded enough to take the lead at the right time. As far as I’m concerned, I found myself blocked in the group, I was boxed-in twice and I could not do my sprint. We will have a debriefing between us. We just need to be patient. That’s cycling. It’s always a bit hard when things don’t work like now, but we need to keep believing and keep going.”
In other sad news, Kevin Geniets crossed the line nine minutes after the winner with clear consequences of his crash. The two-time Luxembourg champion suffers from multiple bruises and a sore left knee. “He crashed hard and feels a big pain in his knee,” added Philippe. “We will see how it is tomorrow morning”. On Thursday, the stage will lead the riders in a short but explosive hill-top finish at the Alto de la Montana de Cullera (1.9 km at 8.7%).
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