He was hoping to fight for victory this Saturday in the uphill finish in Bukowina Tatrzańska. His look on the penultimate climb, alongside Jonas Vingegaard, seemed to endorse his ambitions. Unfortunately, Romain Grégoire was unable to keep his plan going until the end on stage six of the Tour de Pologne, because of a puncture 3000 metres from the finish. The rider from the Groupama-FDJ had to deal with this incident and therefore fought hard to “just” finish the stage alongside the favorites and not lose time. He bravely took thirteenth place today and kept his fourth place overall on the eve of the final stage.
The last fight for the GC contenders of the Tour of Poland was to take place this Saturday in Bukovina Tatrzańska, at the foot of the High Tatras mountain range. In this town used to hosting the national race, another punchy finish was looming after a two-kilometre climb at 7%, which also came about ten kilometres after a “wall” with slopes up to 12%. The riders approached this “wall”, located in Sciana Bukowina, for the first time with sixty kilometres to go, and it created some action. Tobias Foss, Archie Ryan, Mick van Dijke and Tim Wellens attacked from the peloton, and joined a little further the three early fugitives, namely Davide Formolo, Silvan Dillier and Samuele Battistella. Seven riders therefore entered the last hour of racing with a minute’s lead. Following a transition section, the peloton headed back towards Sciana Bukowina. “Clément [Davy] and Sam did a superb job to make sure that Romain could tackle this climb, fifteen kilometers from the finish, in a very good position,” explained Yvon Caër. On this climb, Ryan went alone in the front while on the steepest parts, the yellow jersey group reduced significantly. “When it came down to the legs, Romain was with the very best, among the 5-6 strongest who made the difference,” added Yvon. “He was in the right place, but there were still twelve kilometres to go.” The peloton then got bigger as it approached the summit and then on the descent. Eventually, some forty riders got to the bottom of the last climb (1.8 km at 7%), which preceded the last, slightly uphill 1500 metres.
“A frustrating race incident”, Yvon Caër
Romain Grégoire got into position for the final fight, but he was never really able to take part in it. “He punctured three kilometres from the finish, in the middle of the climb”, explained Yvon Caër. “We later noticed that he had barely one bar of pressure in his tire… So he got to the finish trying to avoid leaning too much on the front wheel. He managed as best he could by sitting as far back as possible in his saddle. He rode just smooth enough to keep the rim from touching the ground. Fortunately, there was a false flat section at the end, and he managed to finish in the winner’s time and not suffer any split by following the wheels. If the finish had been uphill, he wouldn’t have been able to stand on the pedals and it would have been very difficult.” With power and dexterity, the French rider managed to stay with the front group, and he took fourteenth place in a stage won by Thibau Nys. “It’s very frustrating not to have been able to compete in the sprint because it’s the kind of finish that suits him well,” said Yvon. “But we have to be optimistic. He managed to reach the finish despite having a nearly flat tire, and we could salvage something. We only had one puncture this week, and it happened at the worst possible time. It’s a frustrating race incident because the goal was to fight for the stage today, but he was with the strong guys in the decisive moments, and that’s really promising.”
If he avoids any bad surprises, Romain Grégoire should therefore secure his fourth place overall tomorrow in Krakow, where a final opportunity will be on the line for the sprinters, including Laurence Pithie.
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