The Tour Down Under’s GC contenders were expected on Thursday in the explosive final into Uraidla, and Rémy Rochas did not miss the appointment. On the day’s final climb, the climber from the Groupama-FDJ cycling team even went on the attack twice and also passed the summit in first position. At the finish, he eventually took ninth place in a small group of favourites, five seconds behind the winner Javier Romo. He now sits in eleventh place overall. A promising day before Willunga Hill on Saturday.
After two stages made for the sprinters, the spotlights were on the punchers-climbers this Thursday on the Tour Down Under. The climb of Knotts Hill (2.7 km at 7.7%), located just five kilometres from the finish, made this stage a first crucial test for all those aiming for a good overall ranking this week. “It was a nice climb, which we had to do twice, and that we had never done in a race to my knowledge”, introduced Jussi Veikkanen, a real specialist of the Australian event. “We had the opportunity to recon the circuit before the race, so the guys knew the key points perfectly. The approach was quite technical, and we felt the stress from the first time up the climb“. “It went quite well for us,” added Rémy Rochas. “The pace started to increase when we arrived in the most difficult part, with fifty kilometres to go. UAE Team Emirates-XRG accelerated on the first ascent of Knotts Hills, and we already lost a good number of riders.” After passing the finish line for the first time, some still managed to return to the pack and the fight for positioning resumed while the breakaway duo including Geoffrey Bouchard and Fergus Browning was caught.
“We can hope for a very good result in Willunga Hill”, Rémy Rochas
“The stress for the positioning increased even more before the second time up to Knotts Hill”, noted Jussi. “The team did a very good job, especially Clément and Sven, for Quentin and me”, said Rémy. “I was in the first thirty positions at the bottom of the last climb, and I came back to the head of the peloton with the slipstream”. With eight kilometres remaining, the final fight was set to start and Rémy Rochas was in the front row to witness it and take part in it. “There were a few strong attacks right from the foot, then everyone needed to take a breather,” said the Frenchman. “Kwiatkowski thought it was time to go for it, and since he’s kind of my tactical reference, I followed his wheel. We got a bit of a gap, but I wanted to manage my effort because Jayco-AlUla was going full gas behind. After that, we got caught and I remained in the group. There were other attacks towards the top, then I tried a strong one myself 500 metres from the summit to try to get away. Unfortunately, the final wasn’t really favourable.” “Rémy tried, but it wasn’t probably the ideal moment,” analysed Jussi. “He wanted to test himself, it didn’t pay off, but let’s remember that he looked pretty comfortable on the climb.”
After breaking away slightly, the Groupama-FDJ man was caught shortly after the top, then Javier Romo launched a counterattack that no one immediately followed. “I was focusing on small group attacks, because being all alone, I couldn’t jump on everybody,” explained Rémy. The Spaniard was eventually able to stay away and take the win, five seconds ahead of a group of seventeen riders including Rémy Rochas. “I came in the last bend with quite a bit of speed but I was blocked by two riders who stopped their effort a little early,” said the 28-year-old climber. “I took ninth on the line. I hoped for a little better but it’s still a good omen for the upcoming days. I think that there weren’t many of us who could make big efforts at the top of the hill, so if I’m patient and have very good legs like today, we can hope for a very good result in Willunga Hill on Saturday. We will start with this in mind anyway.” “It bodes very well,” confirmed Jussi, “but we will need to channel our energy on Saturday. We can’t make a mistake because it will come down to details. We will have to play it smart.” While waiting for the queen stage, Rémy Rochas has jumped to eleventh place overall, fifteen seconds behind Romo, the new leader. “We will have to stay focused tomorrow,” warned Jussi. “It is a bit hilly, and five riders managed to anticipate the sprint two years ago on this same stage.”
