As expected, the time trial of the Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine logically changed quite a few things in the overall on Thursday, on the third day of racing. Fifth on GC this morning, Enzo Paleni dropped back to seventh after his eleventh position in the time trial, won by Søren Wærenskjold, also the new leader. Eddy Le Huitouze took a solid ninth place in the time trial and now sits in the same position overall before the final stage to Poitiers on Friday.
From Ménigoute to Fontaine-le-Comte, the riders of the Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine tackled the most crucial stage of the week this Thursday. Individually, they had to cover 29.2 kilometres against the clock. “Such a distance is not insignificant for a time trial,” explained Frédéric Guesdon. “There were a few corners, but the course was mainly made up of straight lines. It was a great time trial, for specialists. Also, the tailwind picked up a little over the hours.” The day of racing began at around 1:30 p.m., and Matt Walls was the first rider from Groupama-FDJ to set off at 2:47 p.m., followed four minutes later by his young teammate Eddy Le Huitouze. The Breton rider also did a very notable ride, as he set the second provisional time at the finish in 32’21. He kept this position for almost an hour, before the last twenty riders started. After a strong first part, Thibaud Gruel eventually finished with a solid time of 32’37.
“We are in the mix”, Frédéric Guesdon
Later, the top riders in the overall got underway, and they also took the first positions of the time trial. Starting at 4.41 p.m., Enzo Paleni meanwhile set decent times on the two intermediate points (15th and 14th, editor’s note) before securing the eleventh place of the stage in 32’31. Søren Wærenskjold crushed the stage and climbed to the top of the general classification, while the young man from Groupama-FDJ kept his place in the top 10 (7th), which Eddy Le Huitouze entered in (9th). “They did the time trial that was expected of them, and they gave their all,” assured Frédéric. “We have no regrets. We wanted to be in the top 10, and they are there. We were perhaps hoping for a little better in terms of ranking, but when you see that they gave 100%, you can only think that they’re where they belong. At the end of the day, we are in the mix. If we finish seventh and ninth tomorrow night, and we win the stage with Paul, that will be great.” One stage remains indeed on the menu, and the young sprinter hopes to finally have his chance.
On the finishing circuit in Poitiers, a 600-meter climb at 7% will have to be covered four times in the last fifty kilometres. “It’s exposed at the top, so we’ll have to see what the wind is like,” concluded Frédéric. “It can stretch the peloton and eliminate a few sprinters, but in recent years, we’ve always seen a large bunch come to the sprint.”
No comment