On Wednesday, Lorenzo Germani took advantage of the first mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia, heading towards La Molina, to join the breakaway. After a fierce battle at the start, the Italian was able to lead the way until the summit of the penultimate climb of the day. The favorites then battled for victory, taken by Juan Ayuso, while Rémy Rochas finished two minutes behind the Spaniard.
The day’s menu was quite heavy this Wednesday on the Volta a Catalunya. On stage 3, the riders had to cover nearly 220 kilometres, but also cope with nearly 4,800 metres of elevation gain towards the well-known La Molina, while also reaching an altitude of 1,900 metres. A first fight between the GC contenders was obviously expected, but Groupama-FDJ wanted to be on the offensive from the start in Viladecans. “The team was very motivated this morning,” said Stéphane Goubert. “We had initially planned to join breakaways of at least 6-8 riders, but the riders themselves wanted to be involved in smaller moves. That’s a very good thing. It means the group is committed, and we were very proud of that with Jussi [Veikkanen]. They were all present and active at the start.” It actually took nearly forty kilometres for the good move to establish itself, with Lorenzo Germani, Bruno Armirail, Alex Molenaar, and Mats Wenzel.
“A good day for the group life”, Stéphane Goubert
“The goal was to put one guy in front, and we were in every move,” said the Italian. “We managed to get into the breakaway, even though it unfortunately wasn’t the best situation.” “Given today’s difficult course, the GC teams didn’t want to let a big breakaway go,” explained Stéphane. Therefore, a quartet led the day, with a maximum gap of almost seven minutes. “We rode well together and still had a good lead,” added Lorenzo. “The goal was to reach the top of the big climb in the lead, and we managed to do that. It was a great day at the front.” Caught after the Coll de la Creueta, with about thirty kilometres to go, Lorenzo Germani then joined his teammates Rémy Rochas, Brieuc Rolland, and Clément Braz Afonso in a reduced peloton. “Lorenzo wasn’t feeling well yesterday, so he was supposed to be a little more conservative at the start,” Stéphane explained. “In the end, he had a great stage and was solid physically. It was a good day for the group life, and it shows that they want to have an impact on this race.”
In the peloton, Rémy Rochas and Brieuc Rolland held on until eight kilometres from the finish, before finishing just over two minutes behind winner Juan Ayuso. Another summit finish is planned on Thursday, but the day should be less gruelling.
