The Tour Alsace concluded this Sunday in the same way it had begun for “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ: with mixed results. While Eliott Boulet secured an eighth-place finish on Saturday, and Maxime Decomble narrowly snatched a top-10 finish overall during the final stage, the French squad was unable to achieve the goals it had set for itself at the beginning of the week.
At the summit of La Planche des Belles Filles on Friday, the first hierarchy had been established in the general classification of the Tour Alsace, with Maxime Decomble sitting in thirteenth before the final two days. Yet, before tackling the queen stage on Sunday, a less difficult route loomed on Saturday between Ferrette and Altkirch, across 133 kilometres. “The stage was made for the sprinters, even though the start of the race was quite hard and actually made a selection from the back,” Jérôme Gannat reported. “The breakaway also took a long time to form. Maxime even broke away with a group of twelve riders at one point, but the yellow jersey reacted, and then five riders broke away. They only had a one-minute lead at most; there were seventy kilometers left when they went, and everyone was obviously ready for a sprint.” The five-man group quickly lost a rider, and even became a trio with twenty-five kilometres to go. Just forty seconds behind at that point, the pack seemed to have the situation under control. And yet. “The rain slowed the peloton’s ambitions, and the gap grew again with about twenty kilometres to go,” Jérôme added. “That said, the gap dropped back to under a minute with ten kilometres to go, so it was still possible to come back.”
“The results are mixed,” Jérôme Gannat
In the end, it didn’t happen. The leading trio got along perfectly right up until the final, while the organization within the pack wasn’t the best. “We weren’t involved enough ourselves,” confessed Jérôme. “The rain certainly disrupted the plans, but I would have liked to see the team try and organize something over two or three kilometres to close the gap for our sprinters.” The peloton eventually came to the line fourteen seconds behind the winner, Halvor Dolven, and Eliott Boulet finished eighth on the day, while Blake Agnoletto crossed the line in fourteenth position. “Eliott was our main card, and he finished fifth in the sprint alongside the best,” added Jérôme. “He’s pretty much where he belongs.” The overall standings, however, remained unchanged, and everything was to be decided on Sunday, over the 3,500 meters of elevation gain featuring on stage 5’s menu. “We thought the breakaway would go quite early, but it was again a fight for sixty kilometres,” Jérôme said. “It went just before Mont Saint-Odile, with a first group of six, then a counterattack with six other guys, including Rémi. They got together on Mont Saint-Odile, but the peloton started chasing, the attacks resumed in the front, and Rémi wasn’t able to keep up with the three best from the breakaway.”After getting over the Champ du Feu climb for the first time, and the ascent of Col de la Charbonnière, the peloton was two minutes behind the three last men of the break. At the bottom of the final climb, up to Champ du Feu (9.7 km at 6.2%), the gap was reduced to around one minute and twenty seconds, and the fight started among the favorites nearly seven kilometres from the summit. “Aubin Sparfel attacked, Maxime tried to close the gap but lacked a bit of punch to follow him,” said Jérôme. “Then, he was up there, but without being able to make a difference.” Sparfel caught the last fugitive and won, nine seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group. Maxime Decomble had to settle for thirteenth after his many efforts, and narrowly snatched tenth place overall. “It’s below our initial goal, which was the top five,” concluded Jérôme. “In the end, the gaps were mainly made on La Planche, and the twenty seconds he lost there, on the last ramp, ruined that objective. The results are mixed because it was perhaps possible to do better. The U23 level is getting higher and higher, but there is still a long way to go until the WorldTour. Maxime is learning, discovering, but he can still do better. Overall, we’re there but a little behind. There are still steps to take in order to be more present as a team in the decisive moments.”
