Heading towards the Colláu Fancuaya on Saturday, Groupama-FDJ did everything to achieve its goal. On stage 8of the Vuelta a Espana, the team put no less than three riderson the day’s breakaway, which was made up of ten men. Thanks to Bruno Armirail’s work in particular, the leading group was able to approach the final climb with a big enough lead to fight for victory. However, Thibaut Pinot could not compete with the eventual winner Jay Vine and then took fourth place at the top. Sébastien Reichenbach placed tenth just behind the favorites. There will be more chances.
“It would have been a shame to give up”, Philippe Mauduit
Before heading into the second rest day, a very hard weekend awaited the riders of La Vuelta. The first part, on Saturday, certainly featured only 153 kilometres. However, it included six climbs with a final 1st category ascent, tallying some 3700 metres of elevation gain for the day. It went without saying that the profile of the stage 8 was particularly appealing forthe Groupama-FDJ climbers. The day, however, began with bad news as Jake Stewart was forced to leave the race due to illness. “It’s a shame for him, of course, but it’s also a shame for the group as he brought his freshness”, said Philippe Mauduit. “He adjusted well to this group, and he was doing a very strong start of the Vuelta. We would have liked to go untilMadrid with him, but nature decided otherwise”. They were therefore only seven left at the start of Pola de Laviana, but all seven were motivated. “It went full gas in the first climb”, said Philippe. “Thibaut, Quentin, Bruno, Seb followed the first attacks, but the breakaway eventually went after the descent. Bruno was there first, then Seb and Thibaut came back”. While the time trial specialist had already taken a one-minute lead over the bunch with seven riders, the Franco-Swiss duo attacked from the pack. “It was the very last moment where they could do it”, claimed Philippe. “If they had waited three more kilometres, they would never have had the opportunity. They opened a door and went for it. They did well. The goal really was to have Thibaut or Seb, or even both, in the breakaway. It would have been a shame to give upafter 15-20 kilometres of fight”.
“We were really frustrated to have missed it with Seb”, addedThibaut. “We managed to get out of the peloton at the last minute, but there was already a good gap, so we had to lead a proper chase. It was hard, but we really wanted to be in front. When Bruno came back, it helped us a lot, but we still left a bit of energy with that move”. “I was told on the radio to wait,which I did”, indicated Bruno. “I then pulled to bring them inthe break. It took a lot of effort from us. I even doubted that we would make it back, because we were going full gas and we were not gaining time”. However, after some twelvekilometres of pursuit, the Groupama-FDJ triplet bridged across to Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Qazaqstan), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), Rein Taaramae (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange- Jayco), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and Jay Vine (Alpecin-Deceuninck). From then on, the leading group swallowed the valleys and the climb in a very straightforward way. “The cooperation was good, everyone collaborated well”, explained Bruno. “I did more turns to spare Thibaut and Seb, but the group was working well together”. “The breakaway was always under pressure because the peloton never really gave a consequent gap”, explained Philippe. “Everyone felt compelled to cooperate. If the peloton had given us three minutes, some might have skipped turns and told us to take responsibility. We found ourselves in a situation where the other riders couldn’t afford such a thing, and that’s what allowed the breakaway to make it to the end again”.
“There was really nothing to do”, Thibaut Pinot
The gap remained of about four minutes for a long time, but it slightly decreased as the breakaway approached the final climb of Colláu Fancuaya (10.2 km at 8.6%). Following hiswork, Bruno Armirail was distanced in the foothills. The leading riders rode tempo on the first slopes before everything exploded six kilometres from the finish. Jay Vine accelerated the pace and soon found himself as the lone leader. “When he attacked, I tried to follow him, but he was clearly the strongest”, said Thibaut. “There was really nothing to do. I wanted to try to follow him rather than take my own pace, because I knew it would be impossible to catch him that way. Unfortunately, I went over my limit a little, and then I did what I could until the finish”. At the second level of the race,the climber from Melisey then reached the summit in fourth position, four seconds from the second place. Sébastien Reichenbach finished tenth on the line, surrounded by thefavorites including the red jersey Remco Evenepoel. “When you come across a stronger rider than you and the terrain does not allow you to play it tactical, you can’t have any regret”, said Philippe. “There was a long valley before the final climb, it was impossible to attack on your own and then stay away. When you have done everything you needed to do, you can have no regrets”.
Thibaut Pinot had the same feeling on Saturday evening: “I’m obviously disappointed not to win because it’s a stage that suited me, but I lost to someone stronger. I am happy with my feelings today compared to what they were earlier in theweek. It’s the first time since the start of the Vuelta that theywere good. I am reassured and motivated for the rest of the race. Already tomorrow, there is a stage that looks like today’s one”. “I am satisfied to see that the Groupama-FDJ jerseys are at the front of the race, and that the riders are still fightingeven when the situation can be difficult”, added Philippe. “Their goal is to win a stage and they are doing everythingthey can to achieve it. We will eventually find the right opportunity”. Bruno Armirail also drew positives from this eighth stage. “I feel quite reassured after today, because I’ve had some hard days since we arrived in Spain,” he concluded. “We now need to recover for tomorrow, and we’ll continue to try in the coming two weeks. Rudy got the red jersey, it was good, but we want more. Everyone is going well, and it’s a good sign”. In the general classification, Rudy Molard lost hissecond place on Saturday.
