The outcome of the opening stage of the Pays de la Loire Region Tour on Tuesday was not kind to Paul Penhoët and the Groupama-FDJ cycling team. Well supported by his teammates in the final kilometres towards La Baule, the French sprinter suffered a mechanical problem before the flamme rouge and was therefore ruled out from the anticipated bunch sprint. Cyril Barthe stepped in to take sixth place today. Wednesday, a slightly uphill finish in Beaupréau-en-Mauges will conclude stage 2.
From Machecoul-Saint-Même to La Baule-Escoublac, more than 200 kilometres made up the opening stage of the Pays de la Loire Region Tour on Tuesday, through a big loop that skirted Nantes before crossing the Brières Regional Natural Park and the Guérande salt marshes. Eventually, a local circuit was to be covered three times before a likely sprint finish along the coast. Before that, five men took the front of the race thanks to the early breakaway, but their attempt was neutralized shortly after entering the final fifty kilometres. Tension began to grow in the pack as they approached Guérande and attempts of echelons did indeed take place on the exposed sections. “We lost Rémi for a bit, as he punctured just before the salt marshes,” Yvon Caër said. “It took him a while to come back because there were still a few small splits. We knew the bunch would stretch out but that there wouldn’t be any damage, and that’s what happened. After that, we settled in quietly at the front of the peloton.”
“We know things will turn around,” Yvon Caër
On the quite winding finishing circuit of La Baule-Escoublac, Paul Penhoët and his teammates constantly kept the front line. “We were always well positioned and took the lead at the right time, with five kilometres to go, with Lewis and Tom in particular,” Yvon added. “They did a great job, and then Cyril and Matt were still there to lead out Paul for the sprint. There was a small chicane one kilometre from the finish, which was the key point of the final, but the peloton was already well broken up and stretched out thanks to the guys’ hard work. We were in position; the job was done. All that was left was to focus on the final stretch, where we had to extricate ourselves from the bunch quite early, and we still had the guys to do that.” However, just before reaching the coast, Paul Penhoët was stopped on the road. “He had a mechanical problem a kilometre from the finish, and that eliminated him from the sprint,” said Yvon. “Everything fell through, even though I think we’d done everything well up to that point.”In the sprint, Cyril Barthe then joined the fight and passed the finish line in sixth place. “We’re disappointed today,” concluded Yvon. “One unlucky situation follows another for Paul, but we know things will turn around. It’s impossible that it continues like this. Unfortunately, it’s a lost opportunity. We’ll never know if Paul could have won, because Sam Bennett had a great sprint, but we would have been up there. It’s part of cycling, now we have to think about tomorrow’s stage, where a hard finish awaits us”. In Beaupréau-en-Mauges, the finish line will indeed be located after a 1200-meter uphill section averaging 4%.
