After a difficult race, due to some echelons at the halfway point, Thibaud Gruel still managed to save the day a bit this Wednesday in Paris-Camembert. Although he was unable to take part in the fight for victory, the young Frenchman managed to break away in the final kilometre to take sixth place, which is his fourth top 10 of the season.
Towards Livarot on Wednesday, a series of nice climbs awaited the riders in the final third of the Paris-Camembert’s course. Before then, a very flat terrain was on the menu, and initially, the usual scenario unfolded with a five-man breakaway developing. Yet, the race escalated faster than expected, as the peloton found itself fragmented after only about sixty kilometers. “A first echelon was created by Uno-X, and all our riders were then in front in a group of seventy,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. “It was pretty good for us up until then. I then told Maximilian Cushway to pull because there were quite a few riders caught in the second echelon, but as he was moving up front, he hit a car and a motorcycle that were poorly parked. Following that, the group split into two parts. We then had three riders in front: the three from “La Conti.” They did their job; they were positioned just right. I’m more disappointed about our three WorldTour riders who were caught behind. The crash certainly caused the split, but they were too far back. We lacked attention, and we paid for it.”
“It’s very frustrating and disappointing,” Benoît Vaugrenard
From then on, a peloton of about forty riders broke away, and Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet and Thibaud Gruel were therefore not in the right move. “All the teams were represented at the front, so it was going fast, and it became very complicated for the second bunch,” Benoît said. “Up front, the youngsters didn’t collaborate, but out of respect for La Conti, I didn’t tell them to wait. It wouldn’t have changed the situation anyway.” As the final climbs started, the lead of the first peloton was over a minute over the second. With fifty kilometres to go, the gap reduced to thirty seconds, but attacks from the front quickly ruled out the chasing bunch for good. Five men broke away with nearly forty kilometres to go, and ultimately fought for victory after the final climbs. Belgian Lander Loockx won, while Thibaud Gruel finished alone in sixth place. “Thibaud was very strong, as he managed to join the first bunch at first, then attack again to finish sixth,” said Benoît. “It’s a real shame because he was going well, but we were always one or two steps behind. We weren’t aggressive and attentive enough. It’s very frustrating and disappointing.”
The next French race on the schedule will be La Route Adélie de Vitré, on Friday.
