On the same final as the previous day, but after a very different effort, Romain Grégoire again lived up to expectations on the Tour de Pologne this Tuesday. On the partially uphill time trial that made up the second stage, the young Frenchman took a fine tenth place, forty-two seconds behind the Belgian time trial champion Tim Wellens. Above all, this allowed him to gain three places in the general classification and now sit in fourth place, thirty-three seconds behind the new leader Jonas Vingegaard.
For the second day in a row, the town of Karpacz was set to welcome a stage finish on the Tour de Pologne. After an explosive final on Monday, a time trial was on the menu for the riders, and it was already a crucial day regarding the overall classification. “It wasn’t really an uphill time trial,” said Maxime Latourte, trainer of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team. “There were fifteen kilometres, with a fast first part before reaching yesterday’s difficult finish, a two-stage climb. It wasn’t steep and long enough to require a bike change, but it was still a hard time trial.” The first competitors set off shortly after 12:30 p.m., but Romain Grégoire, the only rider from the team to be really concerned by the time trial, was expected at 4:10 p.m. on the start ramp. “We don’t have a specific goal for the end of the week, but the purpose was to do it as best we could,” added Maxime. “We started with an ambitious pacing, but he managed to execute it, which means that the feelings are good.”
“The objective is met”, Maxime Latourte
Eighteen seconds behind Tim Wellens, the eventual winner of the stage, at the first check point after the flat section, Romain Grégoire eventually lost forty-two seconds at the top of the climb. After all the riders had finished, and especially his rivals, this placed him in tenth position for the day. “Romain is happy with his time trial, he thought he would do a little better, but he has no regrets because he really gave everything”, commented Maxime. “Speaking with Yvon [Caër] this morning, we thought that if we made it to the top 10 of the stage, it would put us in the top 5 overall. So we can say that the objective is met for today”. Thanks to his solid performance against the clock, the young Frenchman indeed moved up three positions overall, in which he now sits in fourth place, thirty-three seconds behind double winner of the Tour Jonas Vingegaard. “There will be more fighting, tomorrow and Saturday especially,” Maxime added. “We’ll need to stay in the mix. Some guys who fought for the stage yesterday have disappeared, and others who were a bit behind yesterday came back into the mix thanks to the time trial. It’s up to us to stay consistent all week to get a good result.”
Wednesday, it will be time for another punchy finish in Duszniki-Zdrój, with a 900-meter uphill finish averaging 8%.
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