Despite a great start with the win of Lewis Bower on day one, the Ronde de l’Oise unfortunately took an inopportune turn for “La Conti”. While the New Zealander was unable to defend his chances due to an incident on stage 2, he and three of his teammates were then forced to leave the race on Saturday due to food poisoning. Ben Askey eventually placed seventeenth overall on Sunday.
It was with the leader’s white jersey that Lewis Bower appeared in Liancourt on Friday, at the start of the second stage of the Ronde de l’Oise. Despite a slightly hilly terrain, including two climbs in the final kilometres, the New Zealander and his teammates fully intended to take their responsibilities. “The team took control to try to keep the jersey and we did the job well,” said Alex Chouffe. “We let a breakaway go, then we brought them back earlier than expected due to some echelons, but the team was there up until the final to do the sprint with Lewis. Unfortunately, Lewis was hit by a rider three kilometres from the finish and found himself at the very back of the peloton. He was unable to defend his chances, and Ronan, who was positioned in front, sprinted to fifth place. It’s a bit of a shame but the team did a great job. It was really nice to see, there was a real team enthusiasm around Lewis to win a second stage and keep the jersey.” The 19-year-old Kiwi still retained the lead overall by securing his place within the main peloton.
“It was really a hard blow”, Alex Chouffe
Unfortunately, the adventure ended the very next day. “On the evening of the second stage, he suffered food poisoning just after dinner and felt stomach aches all night,” said Alex. “He did not sleep at all and had to withdraw the next day. Maxime [Decomble] experienced the same problems and didn’t start either. During the stage, Ronan [Augé] and Jens [Verbrugghe] also suffered from vomiting, they had no strength and were forced to abandon. Ben [Askey] and Colin [Savioz] found themselves on their own. It was really a hard blow. Other teams experienced a similar situation, we don’t really know what happened, but it damaged our ambitions.” On Saturday and Sunday, the remaining duo of “La Conti” obviously struggled to have an impact on the race, but Ben Askey still got involved in the sprints to take eighteenth and twelfth places. “Racing with two men is complicated,” added Alex. “They honoured the race, the jersey, tried to go in breakaway, and completed the race on Sunday.”
The British rider took seventeenth place overall while “La Conti” left the Oise department with a stage victory in its bags, which could have been way more packed. “We gave Lewis confidence, that’s very important,” concluded Alex. “He showed he had the ability to win bunch sprints and the team also gained confidence by committing 100% to our second sprinter. We’ll focus on this positive note. Everyone was also happy to see the exploits of Brieuc [Rolland, winner of the Peace Race, editor’s note]. We are really proud of these results, and his mates were super happy for him. The momentum is very good, it’s just a shame that we couldn’t finish this Ronde de l’Oise as we would have liked, but we must remember that what we wanted to set up at the start worked out.”
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