The second Canadian round did not prove as successful as the first one for Groupama-FDJ. Two days after Rudy Molard’s third place in Quebec City, Yvon Caër’s riders struggled a bit more in Montreal and were unable to get involved in the final battle for victory or a top result. Rudy Molard, Romain Grégoire and Valentin Madouas all finished around 30th place at the finish, which ultimately made for a “mixed” stay in Canada.
Two days after the puncher-sprinters got their chance in Quebec City, the puncher-climbers also had a profile to take advantage of in Montreal, on the usual circuit of the Canadian metropolis. The 12.3-kilometre circuit included the Camillien-Houde climb (2.3 km at 6.2%) and was supposed to be repeated sixteen times, which was one lap less than in previous years. Nonetheless, the total elevation gain was still around 4,000 metres. As for the scenario, it was crystal clear. Dries De Bondt, Gil Gelders and Michael Leonard took the lead early on, UAE Team Emirates took the chase in hand, then gradually made it hard in the last third of the race. “The plan was to make sure that Valentin, Romain and Rudy could be in the final and follow until the moment when UAE would really push on,” explained Yvon Caër. “The plan went as we wanted until Pogacar attacked.” Due to a high, continuous pace for several laps, thanks to the work of the Slovenian’s teammates, only about fifty riders were still in contention when the peloton exploded on the penultimate climb of Camillien-Houde, twenty-four kilometres from the finish.
“We have to fully appreciate Rudy’s third place”, Yvon Caër
It was also when Groupama-FDJ lost their ambitions for the day. “We couldn’t follow Pogacar, nor the group of twenty riders behind him”, Yvon said. “We have no regrets because they were there where they needed to be when they needed to be, but they were just not strong enough. Valentin and Romain may have suffered a bit from the heat, but we’re disappointed because we expected to be higher in the ranking. We didn’t miss much, but we still missed something.” The French trio was therefore unable to fight for the top 10, while Tadej Pogacar flew towards a solo success. On the line, Rudy Molard was the first to cross the line in 26th position, 2’20 behind the Slovenian, followed by Romain Grégoire (29th) and Valentin Madouas (32nd). “The results are very mixed,” confessed Yvon. “We expected a very good result in Montreal, and we eventually got it in Quebec. We know that we are more often disappointed than happy in high-level sport, so we must therefore fully appreciate Rudy’s third place on Friday. Thibaud is also a great satisfaction of the weekend. He’s taking new steps. He was still with Romain, Rudy and Valentin when there were fifty guys left in Montreal. He is discovering, and he will be able to support them very far in this type of race in the future. I am also confident that the guys have done the races they needed to perform at the World Championships, if they are selected, and for the rest of the season”.
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