With nearly 7,000 metres of elevation gain on the weekend’s menu, the riders of the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta-Mont Blanc still had quite a lot to endure in the last two stages of the Italian race. After winning on Friday with Joshua Golliker, “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ didn’t manage to do it again, and while Max Bock couldn’t hold on to his good spot overall, Maxime Decomble secured a decent fifteenth final position. Another squad will tackle the Tour Alsace starting on Wednesday.
The day after Joshua Golliker’s victorious solo, the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta-Mont Blanc resumed on Saturday with stage 4 featuring almost 3,800 metres of elevation gain, the highest total of the week. “It was also the longest stage, with 160 kilometres and a series of four climbs in the last sixty kilometres,” explained Jérôme Gannat. In the first sixty, on the other hand, a real fight for the breakaway took place. Ultimately, a group of seventeen riders, without members of “La Conti”, managed to go clear. “The gap increased to three minutes, then we tackled the Col d’Arlaz, which was climbed very fast because of Jarno Widar,” explained Jérôme. “Only three riders from the peloton were able to join the breakaway. We suffered a bit as far as we’re concerned, even if Maxime Decomble did a decent ride by taking twentieth place. Taking the breakaway could have been a good option that day, because seven or eight riders among the leading seventeen finished ahead of Maxime.” As for Max Bock, he lost more than twenty minutes to the winner on Saturday, slipping from 9th to 23rd place overall. “His condition decreased a little over the days,” confirmed Jérôme. “I think it was due to fatigue, but also a consequence of his knee pain since the German championship. He wasn’t able to train properly or do much intensity. Still, he showed great qualities as a climber and left a good impression in the first few days.”
“We took this victory, which is already very good”, Jérôme Gannat
Sunday, in the final stage towards Breuil-Cervinia, almost similar to that won by Joshua Golliker last year, the young German once again struggled. As for the Englishman, he would have liked to repeat his last year’s performance. “We started with the rain, we tackled a technical descent and seventeen riders got away including Joshua,” commented Jérôme. “They started the Col de St Pantaleon with a 1’30 lead. Like the day before, the peloton went fast with Widar. Only three of the bunch were able to catch the breakaway, but Pablo Torres attacked before Widar came back and then made it to the end. Joshua could follow in the Col de St Pantaleon, but he couldn’t when Torres accelerated. Then in the long climb to Cervinia, he lost ground.” Maxime Decomble also passed him before the end of the fifteen kilometres of climbing and took 17th place. “Maxime couldn’t follow the very best, but he belonged in the next small group of around ten riders,” added Jérôme. “He was one of the first from the peloton, or at least what was left of it.” In this last stage, the 19-year-old young man, French junior time trial champion, moved up five places and finished the race in fifteenth position.
For the third year in a row, “La Conti” therefore took at least one stage win in the Aosta Valley. On the other hand, its series of good results in GC (including two victories, editor’s note) came to an end. “The goal was to aim for stage wins with Joshua and the final top-10 with Max and Maxime”, concluded Jérôme. “We took this victory, which is already very good, and it’s the eighth for a rider of the team this year. On the other hand, we did not succeed in putting a rider into the top-10. It was a discovery of the very high mountains in competition for Max and Maxime. They showed good things, but we were a level below in terms of GC.”
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