On Swiss territory, “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ took part in the Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau on Friday. Facing a quality competition, Jérôme Gannat’s young men were unable to secure a convincing result in Leuggern, after 174 kilometres. On the other hand, they could see the higher level with their own eyes.
On Friday, “La Conti” was just two hours and half from “home” to take part in Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau, the fourth class 1 race of its 2024 calendar. Lining up against her were some of the WorldTour teams heading to the Tour de Suisse. “It was probably the first time that La Conti took part in a race with such a startlist,” said Jérôme Gannat. “The goal was to enter the breakaway, so as to be able to anticipate the big accelerations in the final laps. We thought we had succeeded because nine riders left at the start, and we had two with Joshua and Fabian. There was no WorldTour team in front, we thought it was done, they took 20 seconds, but it eventually came back after around ten kilometers. Another move went straight away with six riders, and we were not present this time.”
“It was still a good experience”, Jérôme Gannat
The racing situation therefore settled before starting the seven laps of the circuit including the irregular climb of Rotberg (7.1 km at 3.7%). The breakaway completed five laps in the lead, but the peloton came back before the last fifty kilometres. “As the laps went by, the climb was done faster and faster,” explained Jérôme. “We lost Lewis and Ronan halfway through the race, as they had not yet fully recovered from their food poisoning on the Ronde de l’Oise. Then, there was a big acceleration in the penultimate lap, there were only 45 riders left in front and we were not there. When we see the riders in this first peloton, we can actually think it’s pretty normal, even if we always hope for better. We especially had ambitions with Thibaud today. Unfortunately, he had a bad day, and he told us on the radio.”
After a very lively last hour of racing, Maxim Van Gils snatched victory while Colin Savioz (48th) finished among the first in the second peloton, more than six minutes behind. “We knew it was going to be hard to be among the 30-40 who would compete for victory, but if everyone had had a slightly higher form, it would have been possible,” said Jérôme. “There aren’t many guys from continental teams ahead in the standings. The race strategy wasn’t that hard. The hardest thing with this level is to position before the big pushes. If you are 40-50th, you are already well positioned in the peloton… For our young riders, it was still a good experience, a good learning race and an opportunity to compare levels. They are only 19 or 20, but to reach the next level, they still need to take another step forward.”
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