Despite not having climbers on this year’s Giro, Groupama-FDJ wanted to tackle stage 15 on the right foot this Sunday. In a day tallying more than 5,700 meters of elevation gain, Lewis Askey, Laurence Pithie, Enzo Paleni and Olivier Le Gac all went on the attack. The first three held their position at the front until the Passo del Mortirolo, before a never-ending end of the stage towards Livigno, where Tadej Pogacar claimed victory. The second rest day, tomorrow, will be most welcomed.
Frédéric Guesdon’s protégés did not lose time this Sunday morning, shortly after leaving the shores of Lake Garda. From the first seconds of a stage which featured 222 kilometers, Lewis Askey, Olivier Le Gac and Laurence Pithie followed the first breakaway attempt. Twelve riders eventually made up this first move, which managed to go clear despite some teams chasing in the back. “We told them not to hesitate to follow the moves, especially in the first flat part,” explained Frédéric Guesdon. “If they had an opportunity to get a head start, they should take it, and the goal was then to enjoy as much as possible. I don’t know if they actually did (smiles). Perhaps some more than others did in the first part, but certainly much less in the final.” In the second classified climb, after around sixty kilometers, thirty riders or so made it back to the front group. Olivier Le Gac was distanced at that point, while Enzo Paleni managed to come back after the downhill. The team therefore still had three men in the breakaway in the long valley leading to the Passo del Mortirolo. When they got there, with around 80 kilometres to go, their adventure at the front ended.
“I didn’t think I would make it up that final climb”, Laurence Pithie
One after the other, they were caught by the peloton, but Lewis Askey still managed to come over the iconic pass within the maglia rosa group. In the Passo di Foscagno, penultimate climb of the day, Tadej Pogacar opened the final fight and flew towards another win. The Groupama-FDJ riders reached the summit at Mottolino several tens of minutes later, exhausted. “It was again a very hard stage, the pace was high, and there was a lot of fatigue at the end of the second week,” said Frédéric. “It was difficult for some of our riders, including Clément who was really not well and who was forced to give up.” “It was going really well for the first hundred kilometers, I was in front, and I was having a good day,” said Laurence. “But the last fifty kilometers, I have never been so dead. I was just very happy to see the finish line, I didn’t think I would make it up that final climb. The final two kilometers were horrible.” Monday, the riders will fortunately enjoy their second rest day on this Giro. “I hope they’ll recover well, we’ll do our best to make sure of that, so that they can get off to a good start for the final week”, concluded Frédéric. “The stages of Thursday and Sunday suit us. The other days, we’ll need to hang on, and why not get a head start from time to time.”
No comment