Following on from a solid first stage for climbers on Friday, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet once again delivered on Saturday’s queen stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Across three major Alpine climbs, the French climber held his own among the leaders and even went on the attack on the Col de la Croix de Fer halfway through the race. At the summit of Valmeinier 1800, he ultimately took a fine tenth place and gained five places in the overall standings (12th).
The peloton of the Critérium du Dauphiné was facing quite an unusual program this Saturday. Over just 130 kilometres of racing, nearly 5,000 metres of elevation gain were to be covered from Grand-Aigueblanche, in a seventh stage which included the never-ending climbs of the Col de la Madeleine (24.6 km at 6.2%) and the Col de la Croix de Fer (22.4 km at 6.9%) before a summit finish in the Valmeinier 1800 resort (16.5 km at 6.7%), and with barely fifteen kilometres of valley over the entire day. A very heavy program, therefore, which surely promised a crazy start. The battle was indeed fierce from the first moments and on the first slopes, the peloton immediately flew into pieces, while Clément Braz Afonso fully engaged in the fight for the breakaway. After an unsuccessful first attempt alongside Matteo Jorgenson, the young man returned to the attack and managed to join a very solid breakaway of fifteen riders, including Romain Bardet, Santiago Buitrago, Sepp Kuss, and many others.
“Clément is there when we need him”, Benoît Vaugrenard
The peloton, reduced to just forty riders, barely eased off, as it kept the escape group under a minute and a half away until the bottom of the Col de la Croix de Fer, the second major challenge of the day. In the breakaway, Clément Braz Afonso managed to maintain his position, while within the yellow jersey group, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet seized his opportunity midway up the climb. “We know that against riders like Pogacar, it’s impossible to win,” said the Frenchman. “The only option left for us is to anticipate, which Clément did very well by joining the breakaway. Then, I saw that the gap wasn’t big on the Croix de Fer, and it seemed possible to close the gap. So I went chasing, and I think it was worth a shot. It didn’t handicap me that much for the rest of the race, because I would have had to climb very fast in the yellow jersey group anyway. And it’s always more fun to be on the offensive than to survive the others’ pace.” After fifteen minutes of effort, the Groupama-FDJ leader joined the breakaway and reunited with his young teammate.
“Clément rode a great stage,” Guillaume emphasized. “It was really nice to have him by my side. Let’s remember that at the top of the Croix de Fer, we were down to fifteen riders, including two Groupama-FDJ riders. This shows that he has reached another level, and I know since the weekend in Franche-Comté that he is quite incredible in this domestique role.” “It’s a strong stage for Clément, because it was already not easy to be in this breakaway,” added Benoît Vaugrenard. “The goal was for him to get over La Croix de Fer to then be able to help Guillaume on the flat, which he did very well. He was really strong. Since the beginning of the year, he is there when we need him, so it’s a great satisfaction.” On the downhill of the Col de la Croix de Fer, Romain Bardet went away solo at the front while the survivors of the breakaway as well as Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet got caught by a very thin yellow jersey peloton. A group of around twenty riders eventually got together behind the leader, who never took more than a minute. This gap quickly narrowed on the final climb, especially when the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar, decided to launch an attack after four kilometres of climbing, almost twelve kilometres from the summit.
“It’s good to be in the mix”, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet
The hierarchy then clearly established, and the Groupama-FDJ climber entered a small group that included Carlos Rodriguez, Matteo Jorgenson, and Enric Mas. After a very solid effort, he ultimately secured tenth place of the day, 3’51 behind the winner. “To finish tenth today after what he did in the Croix de Fer shows that he was really strong,” insisted Benoît. “My legs weren’t great at the start of the week, so I wasn’t very ambitious for the weekend,” Guillaume recalled. “But sometimes you have nice surprises. It turns out I’ve been pretty much up there since yesterday, and as is often the case with me, I’m getting better and better on each mountain stage. A top-10 finish on such a stage at this level is not bad, and it’s good to be in the mix. We’ll see in the last stage if there’s a small opportunity regarding the stage win. If not, we’ll try to grab two places in the general classification. It won’t be easy, but to come away with the top-10 is always nice symbolically.” On Saturday evening, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet indeed sits in twelfth place overall, one minute from the initial goal. “We’re getting close, so we believe in it,” Benoît concluded.
