In Tessenderlo, in Flemish territory, the Renewi Tour held a time trial for its second day of racing on Thursday. Fifteen kilometres were to be covered to establish a first proper hierarchy in the general classification, and Alec Segaert took the win as well as the leader’s jersey. Eddy Le Huitouze set the best time for Groupama-FDJ, 51 seconds behind the Belgian. Valentin Madouas tried to limit his losses and finished 1’12 behind the winner.
Over 15.4 kilometres around the town of Tessenderlo, a first crucial day was looming for the GC contenders of the Renewi Tour this Thursday. A route without any traps was supposed to host them between 12:30 and 15:15. “In this race, they sometimes design extremely flat courses,” said Julien Pinot. “This time, there were a few slight uphill sections. It was a nice course, a fast one, with a few turns, and the weather conditions were perfect. To sum up, it was a real course for specialists, where you had to send power for fifteen kilometers! The pacing plan was not complicated, but you needed to have the engine and the aerodynamics to put it into practice.” During the afternoon, the young Alec Segaert was able to make the most of his abilities to take the victory thanks to a mark of 16’59. Eddy Le Huitouze completed the course in 17’50 (36th), Clément Davy in 18’03 and Valentin Madouas in 18’12.
“Valentin felt good,” Julien Pinot
“We didn’t have any major specialists,” said Julien. “Eddy rode quite well. He made a good effort in relation to his qualities, but we’re far from the world’s best. Sam and Laurence could have been good options before they had to withdraw. We tried to maximize everything with Valentin. The pure performance just confirms he’s not a specialist, but he felt good. He started quite fast, the end was more difficult but he’s in the same time as a rider like Tiesj Benoot, who is the same type of rider. That gives a bit of an idea of his performance. There’s a strong field of time trialists and rouleurs here, so he’s quite far in terms of ranking, but we were looking more at the gaps compared to the main Classicmen. Apart from Sheffield and Wellens, the others are 30-40 seconds ahead of him. Valentin usually says that he loses a minute for every ten kilometres on the best specialists. Over fifteen kilometres, that would have been 1’30. So that’s a little better than usual.”
While two sprints are coming up for Paul Penhoët in the next two days, the former French champion will have to go all-in on the Flemish stage around the “Muur” on Sunday. “The stage is harder than other years. Hopefully for Valentin, there will be a big selection, a tough race and big gaps,” concluded Julien. “Physically he feels good, but to hope for a good overall standing, this stage has to be very selective.”
