Second summit finish, and second breakaway in a row for Groupama-FDJ. After his day up front to La Molina, Lorenzo Germani did it again on Thursday towards the ascent of Montserrat. This time, he brought with him his young teammate Brieuc Rolland in a twelve-man break. The French rider was then able to reach the final climb before the peloton, but the favourites did fight for victory ultimately. Primoz Roglic won, while a less hilly profile looms on Friday.
The peloton gained much less height than the day before, this Thursday, in Catalan territory. Still, an undulating terrain, tallying nearly 3,000 meters of elevation gain, and a finish at the summit of Montserrat (8.8 km at 6.5%) were on the riders’ menu. At the start of this 188-kilometer loop, an eight-man breakaway quickly established itself, but initially without a rider of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team. “We know it’s difficult for a breakaway to make it in the WorldTour, but to exist, go far and have an impact on the race, our objective was to go up front,” explained Stéphane Goubert. “We also hoped that UAE Team Emirates wouldn’t want to fight for the victory so as not to offer Roglic a chance to take the bonus seconds. We had to seize this opportunity. One move went without us, but the guys reacted very well. They could have thought that the big teams would control it anyway, that it was pointless, but they made a counterattack to join the breakaway. That’s the spirit we wanted to see, so congratulations to them.”
“It was a first for me,” Brieuc Rolland
More specifically, Lorenzo Germani – him again – and Brieuc Rolland joined a four-man counterattack while the breakaway had already a thirty-second lead. They made it across after ten minutes of chasing. “I was feeling a little tired this morning, but like the whole peloton after yesterday’s long and hard stage,” said the Breton climber, at the start of his first WorldTour race. “The goal today was to be at the front of the race to potentially challenge for the win if the peloton gave us enough ground. I could rely on a very strong and generous Lorenzo in the breakaway. Unfortunately, one rider was too high in the general classification, so we didn’t have a really significant margin.” Unlike the day before, when the gap almost reached seven minutes, the breakaway’s advantage never exceeded three and a half minutes on Thursday. Therefore, the attacks started early up front, with more than sixty kilometres to go.
Johannes Staune-Mittet and Georg Steinhauser broke away, and the collaboration between the rest of the group wasn’t always ideal between them. “It’s a shame Brieuc wasn’t able to follow this move, but he’s young,” Stéphane noted. “You need some reflexes in breakaways, and you learn them in moments like these. You have to be on your guard all the time. This would have allowed him to go further, even if victory wasn’t possible, but it will mostly allow him to make the right choices the day the break will make it. It was still a very good day for the team, and I especially want to note their attitude at the start.” In the final, Brieuc Rolland broke away with three riders chasing the leading duo, but the fierce battle within the peloton only allowed him to complete two kilometres of the final climb before being caught. “I gave it my all in the breakaway so as not to have any regrets,” he said. “It was a first for me, and I’m satisfied.” Clément Braz Afonso was ultimately the first Groupama-FDJ rider to reach the summit, in 33rd position, around two minutes behind the winner and new leader, Primoz Roglic.A less difficult route is on the program tomorrow towards Amposta. “There will be one less team to pull since Kaden Groves has withdrawn, but there are still a few teams left to control things at the start,” concluded Stéphane. “We’ll be attentive but not overly aggressive. Our real focus is this weekend.”
