Heading towards La Côte-Saint-André, Groupama-FDJ wanted to have an impact during the whole race this Thursday on stage 5 of Paris-Nice. After a fast and furious start, Thibaut Gruel first managed to join the day’s breakaway, which, however, didn’t hold much hope as it included only two riders. The young man was caught in the final thirty kilometres, then Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet joined the fight between the favorites on the final climb of Notre-Dame-de-Sciez, where he claimed fourteenth place. This is also his position overall with three days to go.
For the first time in this 2025 edition of Paris-Nice, the peloton was about to get over the 200-kilometer mark on Thursday. All that with no less than 2,600 metres of elevation gain spread between Saint-Just-en-Chevalet and the summit of the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez. More specifically, half a dozen steep climbs featured in the last fifty kilometres for a Classic-kind-of final. However, the action began early on, as an interminable fight for the breakaway took place at the start of the race. “We knew that a strong group could go very far today, so the goal was to absolutely put someone in it,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. “We had to give our all to be up there, and the riders were in the moves from the start.” “It was a fierce start with over eighty kilometers of fighting, so hats off to Thibaud for being able to enter the break, because it really wasn’t easy,” added Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet. “Unfortunately, there were only two of them, so we knew it would come down to a GC fight.” At the front, the young man from Tours went on with his initiative, although he was realistic about his chances of success. “It wasn’t ideal, that’s for sure,” he said. “It was even mission impossible, but once we were in front, we couldn’t think too much. I wasn’t going to wait for the bunch…”
“It’s rather promising”, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet
With his breakaway companion, Ben Swift, the former rider of “La Conti” gained a maximum lead of three minutes, but the peloton pushed up the pace about forty kilometres later. Thibaud Gruel was able to get over the first two climbs of the final in the lead, before being dropped by Tobias Foss, then caught by the bunch. “It was my first breakaway in the WorldTour, let’s say I ticked a box,” he smiled. “There was a lot of fighting at the start, and I was still there at the top of the climb when we went away, so it’s not too bad.” From then on, the fight between the favourites gradually took shape, with a selection from the back at first. “We returned to a classic race pattern, we knew it would come down to one climb, and Guillaume was very well positioned by his teammates,” added Benoît. “Kevin really placed me well at the bottom of the final climb,” said Guillaume. In a peloton reduced to around thirty men, the French climber made his way to the first half of the group at the bottom of côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez (1.7 km at 10.8%), held his rivals’ wheels until the last 500 metres, before losing a few bike lengths together with Mattias Skjelmose and Jonas Vingegaard.
On the finish line, he took fourteenth place, twenty-two seconds behind the winner Lenny Martinez. “My legs were a little better than yesterday, but I still miss something physically speaking,” he commented. “I’m still a bit bothered by my knee tendinitis, but I’m not too far behind, and I’ve improved compared to yesterday. So that’s rather promising. I hope to have a good weekend and improve on this fourteenth place overall as much as possible.” “Tomorrow we’re going through the Rhône Valley. There could still be wind and bad weather, and a lot of things could happen,” Benoît added. “It’s far from over.”
