On the queen stage of the Circuit des Ardennes on Saturday, Thibaud Gruel fought hard but was unable to keep the leader’s jersey he took the day before following his stage win. After also suffering a puncture in the final, he slipped out of the top-10 as well. On the other hand, the young Frenchman bounced back on Sunday and was close to take another victory. Caught with 300 metres to go after a late attack, he eventually finished eleventh overall.
No less than nine classified climbs and 2,500 meters of elevation gain were on the riders’ menu towards Aiglemont on Saturday, in a 145 kilometres long day. Some very steep hills also featured on the stage, and a big fight for the overall was expected. A race leader since the day before, Thibaud Gruel also knew his rivals would attack him. The first part of the race turned out to be quite calm, and Colin Savioz controlled the breakaway at the head of the peloton. However, serious things started at mid-race on the climb of La Neuville-aux-Haies. “There was a strong acceleration then Thibaud was already in trouble on the next climb, the Col de Liry (1.6 km at 9.6%) which we covered for the first time,” Jérôme said. “On the climb that followed, the Col du Roc la Tour (3.4 km at 7.6%), he lost a bit of time. He was fifteen seconds behind the best and we made a small tactical error because Brieuc remained in the first group. There was only Maxime Decomble to close the gap. He gave his best, but starting the penultimate climb, we were almost 40-50 seconds behind. Brieuc waited but it was too late. Maxime and Brieuc chased, but we stayed forty seconds behind the big group of favorites.”
“Thibaud raced to win”, Jérôme Gannat
In the last ten kilometers, the gap went over one minute, and the yellow jersey also got unlucky in the final climb of Aiglemont (1.2 km at 8%). “Thibaud had a puncture on the last climb and took Brieuc’s bike, given that the last three kilometres rule did not apply,” Jérôme explained. “It’s a bit of a shame, because without this puncture, he would have found himself around fifth place overall. With the 10% slopes, he lost contact with the rest of his group and lost some time.” The French puncher reached the line 1’55 behind the winner Federico Savino, dropping to 13th place overall. Despite losing the jersey, “La Conti” took the start of the fourth and final stage on Sunday with ambition. It got confirmed in the last hour of racing. “There was a hard and technical circuit in Sedan to finish with” explained Jérôme. “Brieuc attacked in the first lap, joined part of the breakaway, then the leader. At the very beginning, they took turns together, then he let Brieuc do all the work. They took a-minute lead, it lasted more than twenty kilometres, but on the last lap, the bunch made a strong acceleration and Brieuc was caught ten kilometres from the finish”.
After this nice attempt, Thibaud Gruel took over in a very small peloton. “He attacked for the first time on the last climb,” said Jérôme. “He broke away with three riders, but the yellow jersey closed the gap. Thibaud tried again two kilometers from the finish. He made a nice attack, they looked at each other for two or three seconds and he could take a small gap. Then, a few riders sacrificed their chance to chase him back and he was caught in the last corner with 300m left to go. It was a good move, he raced to win because he was not sure he could win in the sprint against Magnier. It was close but it almost worked.” He eventually placed thirteenth on the line, climbing to 11th in GC, while Joseph Blackmore took the stage and the overall. “We started with the goal of winning a stage and finishing on the final podium with Thibaud,” concluded Jérôme. “We missed the podium, but Saturday’s stage was just a bit too hard for Thibaud, even if he didn’t miss much. It’s a good week overall, and above all, we raced to win. We defended a jersey, it was a good learning experience, as was the first day in the crosswinds. Thibaud fought at the front, it’s good preparation for Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23 next week and it’s important for him to win races before really taking on the WorldTour team’s calendar.”
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